In Too Deep
by Around here somewhere
Summary: The Sequel to The Second Time Around. The Grant family is wrecked, and are just beginning to truly pick up the pieces. Karen and Gerry are at school, and Olivia is trying to be First lady. Just with putting themselves back together their plates are full, but what happens when someone starts rooting around in what happened the night that Carson was killed?
1. Breaking Points

Disclaimer: I am not Shonda Rhimes, neither sadly will I ever be :( I also do not own the rights to the song 'in too deep' by Sum 41

A/N: Hey guys! So this one starts of over a year after the events of Second Time Around. I hope you all enjoy it :) The title of the whole thing is after the song by Sum 41, in case you guys were wondering… Also, going to work with dad takes on a whole new meaning when he's the President of the United States.

In Too Deep

Chapter One: Breaking Points

"Hi, Livy," Fitz smirked warmly as he walked into the residence, late in the evening.

"Hey, babe," She replied with a smile as he leaned over and kissed her softly.

"That smells delicious," He said as he pulled her into his arms, "I'm sorry I'm late – you mind if I just run and take a shower before we eat?"

"Sure," she smiled a little as she leaned up and kissed him again.

Olivia was sitting waiting for Fitz in the dining room, she already had it all set up for them. After a couple of minutes she got up and lit the two candle sticks that were on the table. Then the food was already, and had been done for a little while – she had been keeping it warm in the kitchen. She went and got it out, delving it onto two plates for them. As she was pouring Fitz's green beans onto his plate when she felt a chill go down her back – and she spun around.

Carson was standing on the other side of the island, covered in blood – a bullet hole in the side of his head. He grinned at her intensely, and she screamed as she grabbed the steak knife from behind her on her plate. She knew that Fitz would be there soon, because he would have heard the screaming, but suddenly Carson was standing right next to her – like he had floated over to her.

"Shh," He whispered into her ear as he caressed her arm, ghosting his fingers down it, "I've been watching you, Liv."

"Liv?" Fitz said as he walked into the kitchen, in his towel, with suds still on him – he had run from the shower when he heard her screaming.

Carson turned to him, and without taking his hand from Olivia pulled a handgun from his pocket. He aimed it with one hand at Fitz, and shot him, several times without even a second thought. Olivia screamed again, and struggled against Carson to try and get to Fitz – who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Carson held her back – and it didn't matter how many punches she tried to land on him – he didn't even flinch.

"It's done, Livy," He said in a whisper, "We're free."

Olivia bolted up in bed, her heart racing and her mind spinning around in circles. It took her much longer than it should have for her to realize that it was a dream, it had seemed so real to her when she was in it. She took a second to try and catch her breath. She took a deep breath as her heart start to pump at a normal pace again and she fell back onto her pillow. She pulled her covers up to her chin, and rolled onto her side. She reached out over to Fitz's side of the bed, and felt that it was cold. She felt gross.

Fitz was at a conference in Germany, and had been the past couple days, and wouldn't be back until the next night. She missed him terribly, but she understood that it was his job. She took a deep breath and took his pillow, holding it in her arms and pressing her nose into it – it still smelled perfectly like him. She took a deep breath, still trying to calm herself. She looked over at the clock and saw that it was two in the morning. She sighed.

She had been having nightmares for months. They hadn't started right away, but they had come in gradually. She didn't usually have them when Fitz was home, and when she did they were much less intimidating. He knew nothing about them, she was careful to keep him in the dark about them, too. He was already worried enough about her. They only really bothered her when he wasn't there – and she knew that he would insist on always having her with him on business trips, or that he would demand to stop them – which she couldn't allow. She swallowed hard, trying to force herself to focus on something – anything – else.

She was attempting to focus in on the fact that Fitz would be home within twenty-four hours when the door creaked open. She flipped over and looked to the one that led to the hallway, which was still shut. She then leaned over and turned on her bedside lamp and did a sweep of the room. The creaking door had come from the door that led into Desmond's nursery, and she spotted Jasper standing in his pajamas, wide awake from fright standing just in front of it.

"What are you doing up, Jazz?" Olivia asked, loosening her grip on Fitz's pillow.

"I had a bad dream," He said, rubbing his eyes, and Olivia put Fitz pillow back where it was supposed to go.

"C'mon in," She said, peeling back the covers on Fitz's side, "You can use Daddy's pillows, ok?"

"Ok," He said, walking very quickly over to the bed and into his mother's arms.

Jasper's nightmares hadn't eased up at all. They tried to get him to talk about it, but he didn't want to. They stopped for a couple days a week, but they were getting disruptive. Several times they got so bad, and upset him so much that he had to be sent home from his preschool at least once a week after naptime. And he only went three days a week. She snuggled her little boy and managed to drift back off to sleep.

She woke up again at four to the feeling of blankets moving around her. Her eyes shot open and she spotted a figure standing by the edge of Jasper's side of the bed. She jumped, and the figure leaned over and switched on Fitz's lamp. It took a second for her eyes to adjust – and immediately she recognized Fitz holding a finger up calming her down so that she wouldn't wake up Jasper.

"I thought you weren't getting back til tonight," She hissed, as he scooped the little boy up carefully, trying not to let him wake up.

"I had a chance to get back earlier, so I thought I'd surprise you," He whispered back, as he carried Jasper back out of the room – to put him back into his own bed.

By the time Olivia had actually brought herself to sit up in bed, Fitz was walking back in. He stripped down to his boxers.

"Did you wake him?" Olivia asked, and Fitz shook his head as he put his laundry away, and went and crawled into bed with her.

"He's sound asleep," He told her, curling up around her as he pulled the covers back up over himself.

"Mmm, baby," She said as she snuggled up, her head up near his shoulder and her arms around him tight, "I'm glad you're home."

"Me too," He said, leaning down and kissing her not so softly, "I missed you like hell."

"You always say that," She replied, leaning up and pecking his lips.

"It's always true," He replied, then smiled – looking down like he could see her wrapping and constricting herself around him through the sheets, "You're going to try and tell me you didn't miss me?"

"Oh no, I missed you," She said casually, and he chuckled as he rewrapped his arms around her.

"I love you so much, Livy," He said, leaning down and kissing her forehead, "Why do you look more tired than I do?"

"I don't sleep right without you," She said and he smiled sadly.

"Neither do I," He replied, kissing the top of her head.

"How's your arm?" Olivia asked him.

"I only had to wear the sling a couple of days," He told her, "How was Jasper while I was away?"

"He got sent home once," Olivia replied, "But he's had them every night. I got him to stay in his room a couple of the nights."

"Well I got home to find I'd been replaced," Fitz teased her.

"You're really jealous of your own son?"

"No," Fitz replied, nuzzling the side of his face into the side of her's affectionately, "I feel bad for the poor little guy – I wish I could fix it."

"You're not the only one," Olivia replied and Fitz nodded.

"I looked in on Desmond – he seemed fine."

"Desmond's always fine," Olivia replied, smiling in thought of her smiley little baby boy.

"What about you?" Fitz asked as she brought her hand down the side of his arm, "You jumped about three feet in the air when you saw me."

"I didn't know it was you," She excused and he nodded, "I don't know – I think I'll always have issues being the First Lady and all of it. I'd much rather just go and get dirty, fix something."

"You have a lot on your plate, Livy," Fitz told her, leaning in and kissing her softly, "But right now, can we try and get some sleep?"

"Of course," She smiled as she yawned, closing her eyes and snuggling into his chest.

Olivia was no one's stereotypical first lady. She often sat in on Fitz's meetings so that she could help him make decisions, and help him with his speeches. Abby and Harrison were sharing the role of Press Secretary, and Quinn had left to take a job with the district attorney. But really, Olivia ran the Press Secretary position through them - and that was no problem. She loved doing that stuff. The problem was the smiling, and the bowing, and the stereotypical first lady stuff – that she didn't mind, but it took away from what she would rather be doing. She was a new type of first lady – the working mom first lady.

"Livy" Fitz said as the four of them sat around for breakfast the next morning, "Can you sit in on my one o clock meeting? I think I could use an extra pair of ears."

"How long will it take?" She asked, "I'm supposed to bring Desmond and Jasper to visit kids in the hospital. The cancer wing, don't worry – I told them that I wouldn't bring them in anywhere with something that they could catch easily."

Fitz made a face.

"It's still a hospital," He replied.

"I'll make sure they don't touch anything outside the cancer suite," Olivia replied, and Fitz nodded, "And I'll make sure Gin can watch them tonight?"

"Yes, for my return dinner," He smiled, "Of course. And, the meeting should be over around two. Maybe I can figure it out and go to the hospital with you?"

"You have meetings all afternoon," Olivia told him, "I talked to Cy to see if you could earlier."

"Daddy," Jasper said as Fitz got up, ready to head down to the Oval.

"What is it, buddy?" Fitz asked him as Desmond reached for Olivia, who plucked him right out of his high chair.

"Can I come with you?" He asked, and Fitz looked to Olivia.

"I was going to bring them down to my office with me," She said, "Jazz, Daddy has work to do."

"I just have to go over a few things," Fitz said as he took Jasper's hand, "He can come with me. Gin's watching them at one?"

"Yeah, I just sent her a message."

"Ok," Fitz replied, "He can come with me. Jazz, go pick a toy – or you'll be bored down in the Oval."

Jasper took off into the living room to find one.

"Daddy!" Desmond said from Olivia's arms and Fitz smiled at him.

"What?" He said, walking over and reaching for him – but Desmond curled back into his mother, "Oh fine, be that way."

Fitz tickled his youngest son's sides, making the twenty month old laugh and smile. Fitz then leaned in and kissed the top of his head before turning and kissing Olivia gently. Jasper came running back into the room with his case of toy cars, and Fitz took him by the hand and led him down to the Oval Office. Fitz set him up in the corner behind his desk with his cars – and went and sat down.

"Dad?" Jasper said as he led his cars across in front of him.

"Yes, buddy?" Fitz replied as he started looking over his schedule for the day.

"I missed you," He replied and Fitz paused, looking over at him – and rolled his chair back.

"C'mere, Jazz," Fitz said, and Jasper ran over to be hoisted up onto his father's lap, "I missed you too. And your brother and your mom, I hate going away so much – it's my least favorite part of my job."

"Mommy misses you a lot," Jasper told him, and he nodded, "But I miss Gerry and Karen too."

"You just saw them at Christmas," Fitz told him, knowing that something that happened a month ago would not be enough for him.

"Sir," Cyrus walked into the room with a stack of folders, "Ow."

Fitz smirked a little as Cyrus looked down to realize that he had stepped on one of Jasper's cars.

"You crushed the Bat-mobile!" Jasper's eyes went wide.

"We'll get you a new one," Fitz told him, "And uncle Cy is sorry."

"I am not."

"Cy."

"Sorry about your car, little guy," Cyrus told him, and Jasper looked much more satisfied.

Fitz smiled as he let him off of his lap and he went back over to where the majority of his cars were. Cyrus grimaced as he picked the car he had stepped on up and put it on Fitz's desk.

"I didn't realize that it was bring your kid to work day," He commented, and Fitz shrugged.

"I got in late last night, I didn't really get to see him," Fitz said casually, "And I'm back a day early. So I figured I'd use today as a catch up anyways…"

"Sir, there are toy cars in the Oval Office," Cyrus said and Fitz shrugged.

"He'll pick them up," He assured him and Cyrus nodded.

"A toddler in the Oval office," Cyrus replied.

"Desmond's a toddler," Fitz corrected, "Jazz is a kid. He's going to play t-ball in a couple months, aren't you buddy?"

Olivia was just finishing up her speech for the hospital, and she turned to where Desmond was playing in his little play area they had installed in the corner of her office. He smiled up at her and reached for her, smiling brightly at her.

"Momma!" He called, smiling and she went over and lifted him out of his play pen, "Walk."

"Alright," Olivia set him down as she gathered her things, taking his hand as they walked out into the hall, "We're going to go see daddy, and then you and Jazz are going to go with Aunt Gin for about an hour, ok?"

"Jas!" He sort of sounded like he was saying Jess when he called for his older brother –but they weren't all too concerned about it just yet, "Walk."

"Sweetie, you can't walk all the way from mommy's office to daddy's office," Olivia told him as she scooped him up, "You'll get tired – then you'll be cranky for Aunt Gin."

"Walk!" He pouted, and Olivia kissed his head.

"As stubborn as his mother – and his father. Looks like combined you should be looking at a lot of hissy fits," Olivia heard a voice that she hadn't in quite a long time, and whipped around to see Edison, "Hey, Olivia."

"Edison - Senator Davis – what are you doing here?" Olivia asked, settling Desmond on her hip better so that she could get a better grip on the folder.

"Just looking around for a few loose ends," He said, and something in Olivia's gut went off like an alarm.

"What're you doing here," She repeated.

"Just looking into a few things from last year," He replied, and she knew instantly that it had something to do with Carson.

"I don't know what you're snooping around for," She told him, "But I suggest you go home."

"Always the pit-bull, huh Liv?" He asked, "Well, enjoy your husband while he's still around."

"Excuse me?" Olivia asked, "What's the supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Liv," He smiled placatingly, "He just might not be the knight in shining armor you see him as to everyone else is all."


	2. Weekend Away

A/N: Wow. I just want to thank you all for all of the love via reviews! They make me smile, and therefore want to set aside more time/write faster… sooo hope you enjoy this chapter too… : )

In Too Deep

Chapter Two: Weekend Away

Fitz had been home for only a few days, and he could tell above all else that his family needed a break from the White House. Olivia was still jumpy – to say the least – from the attack. Form a husbands point of view this was very hard for him, and she had started acting stranger even by the afternoon on Monday when he had returned. He wanted his Livy, his wife, his everything to feel safe again – he just couldn't figure out how to go about achieving his goal. Jasper was just killing him. As a father it was hard watching his five year old struggling with such a big issue, Jasper still wasn't able to even think about comprehending what had happened to him. Fitz knew inwardly that he would have to someday, but outwardly he never wanted him to have to deal with it.

Lately he had been stressing himself out. He would keep himself up during naptime at school so that he could stay the whole time. However, that meant that by the time he got home he was exhausted, and a little bit cranky. Then he would fall so hard to sleep at night that he would have even worse nightmares.

His main goal personally was to get his family out of the White House in one piece, which was why he had planned this weekend away as a surprise. He had cancelled everything for the second half of his Thursday, and Liv's too – not that she knew that yet. He had cleared both of their schedules for the whole weekend, so that they could have a much needed break. He had meant what he said about doing this as a family – especially after all that had happened. This was by far not the first weekend that they had taken off – but it was the first that he was surprising them with – and he had plenty up his sleeve to go with it.

"Have a good weekend, sir," His secretary said as he passed her desk with a smile on his face.

"Thank you," He replied, "You too."

He couldn't help the slight skip in his step as he went through the White House and up to the residence. It was about noon, which was generally when he went up for lunch with the family anyways. He walked in as Olivia was setting Desmond into his high chair and setting chopped into bits version of their lunch onto his tray. Jasper was already at the table with his lunch.

"Hello, beautiful," Fitz smirked as she turned around and he caught her right in his arms.

"You're in a good mood," She commented, smiling as he leaned in and kissed her.

"Well, I'm always pretty happy when we can get out of this place for a little while," He smiled, and her eyes went wide, "Don't worry, I've cleared both our schedules – we'll pack up after lunch – and head to the house as soon as we're all packed up for a quiet weekend away."

Jasper smiled as he watched his parents sit down at the table for lunch with him. He ate his last spoonful of macaroni and cheese – which was his newest phase. He refused to eat it less than twice a day. Olivia had been forced to get creative, she was worried about him eating it that often. So, she found him a vitamin enriched kind – that was made with all natural stuff so she didn't feel as bad feeding it to him. He hadn't quite caught on yet.

"Did you like it?" Olivia asked him and he nodded, "Ok, go pack up all the toys you want to bring with you for this weekend,ok?"

"Ok," Jasper got off of his seat and took off.

"Kids have gone through phases since the beginning of time," Fitz shook his head, "Let him eat a little mac and cheese, he'll be fine."

"I'm waiting for him to catch on," Olivia said, getting up and clearing his bowl, putting it into the dishwasher, "He's a smart kid."

"I still can't believe you did that," Fitz said, taking Desmond out of his high chair and cleaning him off, "Karen wouldn't eat anything but fruit loops for a week. Gerry ate nothing but chicken nuggets for almost two."

"Fitz, I love Karen and Gerry – I love all of you," She said, as he handed her a clean baby, "But Jasper is my first baby – let me freak out and be over protective and do crazy things like find him super macaroni and cheese. Once Desmond's into his phases, then we can we can just let him eat the mac and cheese, ok?"

Fitz chuckled as he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"You pack up the boys, and I'll get us?" He asked and Olivia shook her head, passing Desmond back to him.

"You pack up the boys," Olivia told him, "Don't forget enough socks, and they'll both need more than one outfit a day – I will pack for us."

"That's fair," He smiled as he kissed the side of Desmond's head, setting him down so that he could walk.

"Go with Daddy," Olivia told him as Fitz started walking away.

Olivia smiled as he squealed and ran after him, Fitz waited for him in the doorway. She almost started to laugh as Fitz made a face at her while he was waiting to allow Desmond to get a head of him a little bit.

"Daddy!" He yelled, confused as to why he wasn't coming along.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Fitz said as disappeared down the hall with him.

Within an hour they were all packed up and leaving, the secret service following them. There was no way around Fitz's limo, so Tom and his next in command were in the van behind them with their stuff that they would need for the weekend. The house had already been secured, and most of the agents that were going to be there were already there. They got out of the limo, and Fitz went to help the secret service bring in the bags – but they wouldn't let him as Aunt Gin came out of the house.

"Hey," Olivia smiled, giving her a hug as Fitz walked back over to her and the boys.

"Surprise round two," Fitz replied, kissing the side of Olivia's head, "Mommy and Daddy get some alone time – starting, now."

"Is this why you made me change?" Olivia checked as he took her hand and they watched Gin bring the boys inside.

"Yes," He replied, he too had changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater.

"So what're we doing?" She asked and he shrugged.

"I thought we'd go for a ride on our horses, they haven't been out in a while," He said, as he lead her down the back lawn by the hand, "Plus I thought I remembered you saying something about you liking your cowboy?"

"I do," She smiled as he stopped to kiss her, "How many rounds of surprises are there?"

"Two more," He answered her smiling, "But it's mostly for Jazz, I'm sure you'll like it too though."

"Jasper knowing that barring any major catastrophes neither of us are working this weekend is enough," Olivia replied and Fitz chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her waist and they went onto the path out to the barn.

"Never settle for 'enough'," Fitz told her, kissing the top of her head as they walked.

"You're good to us, Fitz," She told him, leaning up and kissing his cheek, "Nothing of what happened was your fault, you know that, right?"

"I wonder if they'll recognize us," Fitz purposefully changed the subject.

"Well I don't know about you and Franklin," She said, allowing him the change in subject – it helped to pretend sometimes, "But I come out here at least twice a week to see Cricket."

"Well, aren't you busy then," Fitz replied.

He was incredibly thankful that the man who lived out there during the summer had agreed to move –in, with his family – Which included his teenage daughter – the horses got plenty of attention when they were gone. The white house of course had stables, but they were not nearly as nice on the inside as the ones they had in their backyard – and Benjamin Franklin, Cricket, Star, and Troy weren't used to sharing anything. They had to be the most spoiled horses that he could remember knowing about.

"Maybe I should ride Karen's or Gerry's," Olivia said, "They must miss them while they're at school."

"From what I've heard Tim's daughter and her friend have been riding them all in turn," Fitz said, "Maybe this summer we'll get Jazz his? He's started asking."

"No," Olivia replied, "He's too young."

"What about a little one?" Fitz asked as they came up to the stables.

"When did you get Karen and Gerry's horses?" Olivia asked and Fitz shrugged.

"Karen was twelve, and Gerry was thirteen," He replied, "But that's how we ended up with horses named Star and Troy."

"And right now you would get one named Elmo or Monster," Olivia said, "Besides, you are not putting my baby on a horse until his head is at least taller than Franklin's leg, and be at least seven."

"Fine," He replied, as he took down their saddles and handed her her's.

Olivia set Cricket up with her saddle and was leading her out of her stall when she paused to watch Fitz with Franklin. She smiled as he patted the horse's neck affectionately, running his hand over the nose before hopping up into the saddle. She watched as he got settled, he was always somehow more handsome to her when he was doing something involving the horses. She had a feeling it had to do with the compassion that he showed – he wasn't the president, he was a man in love with his horse. It was almost as magnetic of an attraction as when he was hanging out with Desmond or Jasper – or the older kids when they were little. That horse, much like the kids, didn't know or really care that he was president, to them he was just the guy that was supposed to take care of them – and he played right into the role. Besides – he was damn gorgeous on top of his big white horse.

"You going to stand there and gawk at me, or are you going to climb up on your horse?" He teased her, and she snapped out of it – getting her feet into her stirrups, "There you go."

"Eyes off my ass, Grant," She teased him, then got up and settled.

"I don't think you get to control that," He smiled mischievously and they took off out of the stable and onto the path that went around through the woods.

They got back to the stable as the sun was setting – knowing that they had to get back for dinner. They put the horses away. Fitz gave them a quick brush down, then filled all of their water buckets while Olivia went around filling all of their oat sacks. Fitz washed up in the little bathroom, and then they headed up back to the house.

"You ready for surprise three?" He asked as they reached the back porch, their hands swinging between them.

"Did you order dinner?" Olivia asked hopefully and he rolled his eyes.

"In a manner of speaking," He replied, as he pushed open the back door into the kitchen.

"Ah!" She smiled happily as she spotted them.

Gerry and Karen were sitting at the dining room table with Desmond and Jasper on their laps eating pizza. Jasper was so happy that his grin was so wide he didn't even care that he was eating pizza instead of mac and cheese. Desmond was laughing and giggling as Gerry was feeding him little bits of pizza that he could chew on. Gerry put Desmond into his high chair, and Karen let Jasper down as they both rushed over to hug her and their father.

"Oh my gosh, what're you two doing here?" Olivia asked as she hugged Karen, and then Gerry came over and gave her a big bear hug.

"Dad called to see if we'd want to come home for the weekend," Gerry said simply.

"Apparently something about our little brother missing us," Karen replied, as Jasper clung to Gerry's leg.

"And it's a celebration too," Fitz said, taking a slice of pizza, "Surprise part four: Gerry's taking an internship in the senate, here in Washington starting Monday."

"What?" Olivia smiled.

"I've been talking to dad about it as it went," Gerry told her, "And I'm going to live on my own – but I think I could make time for the occasional Sunday dinner."

"Who are you kidding," Karen said, "You're going to be over there all the time looking for something – you can't cook."

"It's ok, Gerry," Olivia replied, "I'll teach you a few things – the basics."

"Thanks, Liv," He smiled.

"You know they're going to give you a hard time, right?" Olivia checked as they all sat down.

"Oh, yeah," Gerry smiled as he took another slice of pizza, "I'm very aware. But who wouldn't pick on the President's kid if they had the chance?"

"Good attitude," Olivia said, and she looked around the table, "There's no vegetable."

"It's pizza," Gerry replied simply, and Olivia got up, "We're college kids."

"Well right now you're home," She pointed out, "I'll just make a salad really quick."

She went into the kitchen and pulled out a bag of lettuce – the fridge had been stocked for the weekend with the usual list she gave when they went for the weekend. Fitz had really outdone himself, and she sort of half wondered how he had managed to get his hands on the list. Then she realized her receptionist would have been all too happy to help him if she knew what he was up to. She pulled it out and a stalk of celery, and a tomato. She went over to the cutting board and was chopping them up and throwing them into the bowl.

That's when she heard someone coming into the kitchen behind her. She jumped about three feet in the air and whipped around. She had the knife ready in her hand and could feel her heart pounding in her ears, her whole body was shaking. Karen had frozen, and had only gotten as far as the fridge, but was looking at Olivia with a great amount of concern.

"Karen," Olivia breathed, putting down the knife.

"Hi," She replied, walking towards her slowly, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, you just scared me," Olivia said casually – and Karen nodded suspiciously, "Here."

She handed her the salad bowl, and Karen smiled apprehensively.

"I'm going to grab Jasper a new juice," Olivia explained, and Karen nodded as she brought the bowl out to the table.

Later, once Desmond and Jasper had been put to bed the rest of them were watching a movie in the living room. Olivia snuggled up to Fitz's good arm, because he had had to put his sling on after dinner because they had ridden for so long. Karen and Gerry were all riled up, and on their college schedules, but as the movie finished off – Olivia's eyes were closing. She got up and yawned, stretching carefully as the credits started to roll.

"I'm going to go to bed," She said, and Fitz nodded, "Wake me up when you come up?"

"I'm going to go get a water," Gerry said, and they both left the room.

"Hey, dad," Karen said casually, "Has Liv been that jumpy since last year?"

"It comes and goes," Fitz told her, "Why?"

"Just something we were talking about in class the other day," She said.

"Is this like when doctors are in school and they think they're dying every few days?" Fitz teased her, "We send you to school to be a therapist and you see it everywhere too?"

"No, dad," Karen replied, rolling her eyes, "Has she been having nightmares?"

"I don't think so," He replied, "Maybe once or twice."

"Has she talked to anyone?"

"She doesn't want to."

"Dad, I think she might have PTSD."

"She went through a lot, Kare," Fitz said and she nodded.

"I know, but it's just all the more reason to look into it," She said and Fitz nodded, "Because it looks pretty textbook from what I'm seeing."

"I'll watch a little more intently," Fitz told her, "I was starting to worry too – she's started to get visibly worse – I can admit to that."

"All right," Karen replied, leaning over and kissing her father's cheek, "I'm gonna go to bed."

"Ok," Fitz replied, "Sounds like a good idea to me, too."

Karen went straight for the backstairs, and Fitz went to the kitchen to say good night to Gerry.

"Night, Gerry," Fitz said as he passed through.

"Hey Dad," Gerry stopped him, and he paused at the bottom of the kitchen stairs, "How've you been?"

"I'm fine," Fitz said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, nothing," He replied, "I called to verify for Monday, and my contact's been Senator Davis – not my choice – but he apparently oversees the internships to the senate. Anyways, I called him like Monday or Tuesday and he wasn't there – he had to call me back because he was at the White House – the secretary told me he'd been visiting a couple days a week. When he called me back he said something about talking to Liv. I was just wondering how you were with him visiting so much."

"I hadn't noticed he was," Fitz shrugged, putting on a easy going nature, "Did he say what he talked to Liv about?"

"No, just that Desmond was getting big, and that I must've not been able to wait to see him again," Gerry replied, "You didn't know he was there?"

"Hundreds of people come and go every day," Fitz told him, "He must've run into Liv in the hall or something. She has him in her office with her most of the day."

"Oh, ok."

"Don't worry about it," Fitz told him, and Gerry nodded.

"I just thought it was weird," Gerry said and Fitz shrugged.

"It is a little," Fitz shrugged, still trying to keep calm, "Did you know when it was?"

"Monday, I think," Gerry replied, "A little after noon?"

"Ok," Fitz smiled at him, "Good night."

Monday, a little after noon – like just before she would have been taking Desmond to his office. That was when he had first noticed that she was acting particularly strangely. She had been a little jumpy since the incident with Carson, and that was something that he could very easily see. He very quickly deduced that Edison had said something to her, which had set her off as Fitz walked up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Liv was still up – and was reading her book when he walked in, so he laid down next to her.

"Liv," He said as he rolled onto his side, trying to stay neutral, "Why didn't you tell me you ran into Edison?"

"It wasn't that big of a deal?" She said as she set her book down on the nightstand, "He commented about Desmond being strong willed in the hall. We had a short interaction – and then I carried Desmond to the Oval. What do I have to tell you when I speak to members of the opposite sex?"

"No," Fitz furrowed his brow, he didn't like being labeled the overlord, "I didn't say that – you've just been acting weird."

"So you think that's Edison?" Her voice was raised.

"Well I can't think of anything else," He replied, trying to keep an even tone, "What'd you guys talk about?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon Liv, it upset you, just tell me."

"No, it's none of your business."

"Seriously?" Fitz's patients were gone, "You've been acting upset and unhappy – I thought it was something major that had happened, or you were having some intense issue or something. But apparently you just had an argument with your ex-fiancé. And furthermore, it's none of my – your husband's - business. Nice, Liv."

"Fitz," Olivia shot him a look, "What the-?"

"I'm going to take a shower," He replied grumpily, and disappeared into the bathroom.


	3. Trying

A/N: HE ASKED FOR A DIVORCE! (oh ps… spoiler alert) EEEk …. Dang… ok so here we go with this story… enjoy :)

In Too Deep

Chapter Three: Trying

Olivia was surprised when Fitz walked back in from his shower and picked up his pillow. She thought for a second that he might take it and go and sleep on the couch, and it scared her. He had never done that before – neither of them had. They knew all too well how lucky they were that they were finally together – no matter what happened during the day, they stuck together. She watched as he pulled his side of the covers down and climbed into bed. He looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath – she knew that he was hurt – but she didn't know what she could say. She had her suspicions, and she knew that Edison was up to something – but that was about it. If it was anything, Fitz would know about it soon – and if it wasn't, what was the point of worrying him with it? He turned on his side – facing away from her. That was a first, too.

"Fitz.."

"I don't want to talk, Livy," He replied dejectedly, still facing the wall.

"You were about to go and take the couch," Olivia tried to call him out.

"No, I wouldn't do that. It didn't even really cross my mind," He replied, looking over his shoulder, "Would you prefer if I did?"

"No." She said, immediately and he turned his head back to the wall.

"Ok then," He said, reaching and shutting off the light.

Olivia scooted down in bed, but didn't move any closer to Fitz than she was already. She took a deep breath and scooted a little closer to him under the covers. She made slow and careful movements until she was right up against his back, which he didn't object to. She waited a little while to see if he would, and when he didn't she wrapped her arm around him, pressing the side of her face into his back. She grabbed hold of his arm – half expecting him to move her hand – but he didn't.

The rest of the weekend passed in much the same fashion. Fitz was not at all pleased with Olivia, and she knew it – she hated it – but she couldn't understand why he would take it so personally. He knew that she loved him, she just didn't want to start anything between him and Edison if she didn't need to. She knew Edison well enough to know that most likely that was exactly what he was trying to do, trying to work up something between the president and himself. Something that he knew was all too easy to do, why else would he mention it to Gerry?

They each spent the weekend focusing on the kids, and not addressing their own issues. Karen and Gerry were theirs for the weekend, and they had ample time to hang around with Jasper and Desmond, so that is exactly what they did. Before they even knew it, they were spending their Sunday afternoon helping Gerry get settled into his new apartment. It was weird to see him ready to live on his own – Fitz was helping him make sure that everything was in order security and electronic wise while Karen and Olivia watched the boys while they helped figure out the linens and the "mom" stuff.

"Are you and dad ok?" Karen asked as she sat with Olivia in the living room, folding Gerry's new towels.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Olivia replied and Karen shrugged.

"You just have been acting – not the way that you usually do around each other," Karen replied and Olivia shrugged, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You jumped three feet in the air with a large knife when I walked into the kitchen," Karen told her plainly, "You jump when anyone makes any sort of noise that you're not expecting…"

"I'll be fine, Karen," Olivia told her, "I love you, please don't worry about me, ok?"

"Liv, Karen, boys," Fitz said as he walked into the room with Gerry trailing in behind him, "We have to go, we have to get Karen to the airport."

"Oh, crap," Karen looked at her watch as Gerry scooped Desmond up off the floor, "We have to go."

"Yeah," Fitz chuckled at her as Gerry hugged Desmond, then passed him off to Karen as he hugged her.

"Have a safe flight, Kare," Gerry said as he hugged her carefully around Des.

"If I must."

"Bye, Des," He said, then looked over to Jasper, who was waiting – Gerry knelt down to be closer to eye-level with him, "Bye, Buddy. Remember, I'm a lot closer now, so you can have someone call me anytime, ok? Once I figure out my day off – what do you say we hang out? One day a week?"

"I bet we could figure that out," Olivia said, and Jasper beamed as he threw his arms around his big brother.

"I'm jealous," Karen said, as Gerry stood back up.

"You got an extra year when he was younger – when he was Desmond's age," Gerry pointed out as he hugged Olivia, and then his father.

They paraded out of Gerry's apartment building, Secret Service and all as they headed back to the presidential limo. They had to drop Karen off at the curb with her guard, because it was too risky for Fitz to get out of the car at the international airport – or any airport for that matter. She hugged and kissed them all goodbye within the limo, and then was off. Her guard helping her with her bags. Desmond and Jasper both fell asleep on the way from the airport to the White House.

"I've got Jazz," Fitz told Olivia as she carefully peeled Desmond out of his car seat.

"Works well," Olivia commented, following Fitz – both of them just letting the services grab their things.

Fitz led the way all the way up to the residence, and to the boys' rooms. Olivia brought her little one right into his room. She woke him briefly to change his diaper and get him into his pajamas. She kissed his head, and sat with him in the rocker for a few minutes to get him settled down again, enough for him to fall asleep – telling him a bedtime story while she rocked him. She waited until he was fast asleep again before she risked standing up and putting him into his crib. She closed his door carefully, then peaked into the next room where Jasper was already out – his night light shining from the corner of the room. Then she went into her bedroom.

Fitz was already in bed – at least pretending to be asleep. Going to bed had been her plan too. This was the time that she had been dreading, being alone with him when they weren't exactly on the best of terms. Over the weekend they could at least focus on the kids – but now they didn't have Karen and Gerry around – just the boys. Jasper would be going off to his nursery school in the morning, and Desmond was still portable. To work all their energy was about to go – which was always a dangerous thing.

Olivia changed into her pajamas, and climbed into bed, tonight not feeling up to attempting to cuddle with her somewhat unresponsive husband. She laid down, and turned onto her side, away from him as she shut off the light. It felt cold, dead, and she hated it. She could feel her heart shrinking, and starting to whither. She hated everything about it – and she didn't want to feel anything even similar to it ever again. She wanted Fitz – her Fitz. And they had a state dinner the next day too, that would be fun. She had always told him that they were never going to put on a show – unless it was for the kids. They wouldn't fake it for camera's he had done enough of that with Mellie.

Then, her ears perked up as she heard a rolling on the mattress behind her. She smiled slightly, unable to help herself as she felt Fitz's warm body behind her. She felt a warm sensation throughout her body as she felt him wrap his arm up and over her, nuzzling his face up against her neck. Then she felt his lips press against the back of her ear. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of physical affection that she had been deprived up for most of the weekend.

"I miss you, Livy," He whispered in her ear, "Nothing is worth this. Especially when you were right. It doesn't matter what you and Edison talked about – for all I know all you guys exchanged was an awkward 'hello'. I just heard his name and saw red. At the end of the day, I'm a man, Liv, an older man with a beautiful wife who he's terrified of losing. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight, and I overreacted. I'm so sorry, Liv. I know you chose me – very clearly. I just immediately went into protection mode. I just got jealous…"

"Fitz," she breathed as she rolled over onto her back.

"No," He said, brushing her hair out of her face in the dark, "I missed you all weekend, and you were right there next to me. I refuse to let anything as ridiculous as Edison Davis to screw us up. I'm sorry I got jealous and I got stupid. And, I have to go away tomorrow night after the State Dinner, so I can talk at soon to Governor Louise's rally in California. So please just forgive me? I don't want to go away – even if it's for less than twenty-four hours knowing that we're anything less than perfect. But mostly I just miss you – I miss us. I know it's only been a couple days but it's killing me, and I want my Livy."

"Fitz, don't worry about it," She replied, as she put her hand up on the side of his face.

"I love you," He whispered into her ear, and she felt shivers run all over her body.

"Mmm," She smiled, "My babe."

He smirked, leaning down and kissing her.

"All yours, sweet baby," He breathed, his arms snaking around her.

"I love you," She told him, kissing him softly, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," He replied, without a single thought, looking right down into her eyes.

"I'm not going to tell you what Edison said," She replied, "You have to trust me, I will tell you if it's a problem."

"That fine," He replied seriously, then smirked, "But Livy?"

"Yes?"

"Don't you dare say anything about him in my bed ever again," He smiled, and Olivia grinned.

"Understandable, I think I can handle that," She replied, realizing what it would do to her if he mentioned Mellie in a similar way as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, "But just out of curiosity – what would you do?"

"I don't know," He replied simply, leaning down and kissing her softly, "I do however know exactly what I want to do right now."

"Oh yeah?" She giggled a little bit as he trailed his hand down her body, leaning in and kissing her passionately – like he had wanted to all weekend.

The next morning, a little later than she had planned, Olivia was sitting in her office. She had refrained from the desk for the morning and was sitting on the couch with Desmond on her knee playing with one of his toys while she looked over the guest list. She looked it over twice, and sort of felt like Santa Claus. She added a couple of people who had been overlooked the first time, and then just stared at Edison's name – wishing that she could take him off of it. She knew that he had a flare for the dramatics – and she knew that if she did the whole world would know. The man had threatened her husband, and she couldn't even blacklist him from a party – people would talk. At least she could make sure enough people were there so that he didn't have to do more than shake their hands at the door.

"Jillian," Olivia called, bouncing Desmond carefully on her knee as her assistant came into her office.

"Yes, Mrs. Grant?" She said, she had been instructed to call her Olivia – but wasn't quite there yet.

"I'm done looking over the list," Olivia said handing it to her, "I've added a few people, and I'd like you to call them. David Rosen is one of them – he's not going to want to come, but tell him that I would personally like to see him there."

"Ok," She said as she turned to leave the room – and Fitz walked in, "Oh, hello sir."

"Hey, Jillian," He smiled kindly at her and she scurried from the room as Fitz walked over and stood before his wife.

"Do you need any help with tonight?" He asked, taking Desmond from her knee, "Cyrus told me I had an extra hour - so if you want anything speak now. I know party planning isn't quite your favorite."

"But it's Jillian's," Olivia replied, "That's why I hired her, remember? She has everything set up, a approved everything when I got in this morning."

"Good," He said, smiling as he tossed Desmond up in the air carefully, "You're ok then?"

"Jonesing for something to fix," She replied, smiling as she watched her gorgeous husband playing with their son, "But I'm ok."

"I have a meeting at two if you want to sit in," He replied.

He hated watching her plan parties – mostly because he knew that she despised it. Looking over guest lists, and picking plates and dishes, and what everyone was going to eat – where they were going to sit it was a waste of her brilliance. The hospital visits, and all of that wasn't the worst thing in the world – and she didn't mind doing it – but the party planning it killed her – and he knew it. Which was why he was always careful to give her enough attention – and make sure she felt appreciated when she had to do that stuff, always offering to help her out, or offering up something more political to keep her involved.

"That sounds fantastic, what is it?" Olivia asked and he smiled.

"It may have something to do with picking a new justice," He replied, and she smiled, "It's just when everyone's introduced - but I'd like you there."

"That sounds great," She said, "Perfect to get my mind off this stupid party."

She had just finished her sentence as her personal phone started going off. Fitz gave her a bit of a concerned look as she pulled it out and put it to her ear.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Mrs. Grant?" She heard the all too familiar sound of Jasper's teacher on the phone.

"Hi, Catherine," Olivia said, "Jasper needs to be picked up?"

"Yes, ma'am," She replied, and Olivia nodded – Fitz felt his heart sink – like it always did when they got a call from Jazz's school.

"Ok," Olivia said, "Tell him someone will be right there to get him."

She hung up.

"I want to go get him," Fitz said, and Olivia furrowed her brow.

"Fitz, I'll go get him."

"I'm his father," He said, "I should be able to go get him from school when his teacher calls."

"You're also the president of the United States," Olivia reminded him, "You going involves almost a full motorcade."

"Not always," He replied, "I managed to sneak out to see you a few times."

"If you really want to go get him, I'd rather finish off planning before the meeting anyways," Olivia said as Fitz handed her Desmond again, and kissed her head.

The rest of the day went by without any major issues. Fitz got back with Jasper, who he had managed to calm down about the time Olivia was done with the party planning. They dropped the boys off with Gin, and headed down to the meeting. By the time they were leaving it, Olivia was feeling better – and it was something that was visible in her appearance. Fitz smiled as they walked out of the meeting – Olivia was a lot happier. They spoke with Cyrus in the Oval Office for a little while – weighing candidates and then they headed off to be with the boys before the dinner.

Fitz stood in the living room in his suit, watching Desmond and Jasper playing on the rug as Gin looked on. He checked his watch, still waiting for Olivia to be ready. Then, she walked out of the room in a beautiful off-white gown.

"You look beautiful," Fitz smiled as she attached herself to his arm.

"Thanks, handsome," She smiled, leaning up and kissing him quickly.

"I'm going to come say bye to you before I go," Fitz told Desmond and Jasper, "I'll wake you up, ok?"

"Ok," Jasper smiled, and Fitz went over to kiss the top of his and Desmond's heads.

Within the hour, Olivia and Fitz were poised and perfect waiting to go in and greeting their guests. Then, they were opening the dance floor, Olivia beaming up at her husband as he led her around the dance floor. The crowd clapped as he escorted her off, and everyone else crowded in. Olivia was always a little more jumpy than usual at the parties – which was completely understandable to Fitz, meaning that he stuck by her side as much as possible.

"Olivia," David Rosen said as he made his way over to them.

"David," Olivia replied, with a smile, "You've met Fitz."

"Of course, hello sir," He replied, then looked back at Olivia somewhat expectantly.

"Hey, babe," Olivia turned to Fitz, "I need a minute to talk with David."

"Ok, you sure?" Fitz was a little surprised – she had been pretty insistent on him staying near here at every other dinner.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," She replied, and Fitz nodded as he headed off towards where Cyrus was, "What can you tell me?"

"No more subtleness?" David teased, then rolled his eyes, "Fine. You're right, Edison's been poking around into what happened that night. He's trying to build a case against the President causing the death of Vice President Carson. I don't think that anyone will entertain the case – but you never know."

"I have to tell him," Olivia sighed, and David went silent.

"He should at least know," David replied.

"How close is he to trying to announce something?"

"He's smart – he'll go back ally," David replied – and Olivia nodded.

"Thanks, David," She replied, and he nodded as he disappeared into the crowd a bit, and Fitz returned to her side.

"What was that about?" Fitz asked cautiously – trying to be extra passive.

"I need to talk to you and Cyrus," Olivia told him, her fixer face on, "Right now."

"Ok," Fitz said, as he looked over and caught Cy's eye so that he came over.

They walked casually out of the room and off into one of the closest private rooms.

"What's going on?" Cyrus asked and Olivia took a deep breath, looking at both of them as they stood in front of her.

"Edison is trying to pin Carson's death on Fitz," She told them, "He's trying to set up a case. Fitz, I promise I'm telling you right away. Edison said something vaguely threatening in the hall - you were right about him messing with me. But I wanted to stop him from messing with you if he really wasn't up to anything. David just told me."


	4. Oh

A/N: Hey guys – so this one took me a bit longer than expected – hope you guys didn't mind waiting too much :) Enjoy the chapter and leave me a little review if you wish…

In Too Deep

Chapter Four – Oh.

Olivia was waiting in the car with Desmond for the secret service to bring Jasper out to the car. Her own agent was sitting in the front seat with the driver – the divider blocking them from view. Desmond dropped his toy on the ground where he couldn't reach because of his car seat. She reached down and picked it up, dusted it off and handed it back to him as the car door opened. She looked over, and saw Carson climbing into the car.

"What're you doing here?" She asked, trying not to set him off right away – though she was nearly paralyzed in fear.

"We're picking our son up, beautiful," He replied simply.

"_Our_ son?"

"Well, as soon as the adoption goes through," He replied, looking over at Desmond, "I'm already a way better father than Grant, right, Mrs. Carson? Speaking of which, once we get home and the boys go to take a nap…"

"I don't think so," Olivia replied, and Carson pulled out a gun, blood starting to come out of the side of his head.

"Oh, I think so," He replied, as blood just kept pouring out, like a red waterfall.

Olivia woke up with a start, almost completely disorientated until she realized that she was safe. She was in her room – Fitz wasn't there – but she was in the White House, in her bedroom. Fitz was away for the night, but the secret service was around if she needed them, and Carson was dead. Carson was dead – and her phone was ringing, which was probably what had saved her from her nightmare.

"Hello," She said, not checking the caller ID before picking it up.

"Hi," Fitz beautiful voice came over the line, "I just wanted to call and say that I landed – I was going to leave a message, I didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh, it's fine," She replied, still a little out of breath.

"Are you ok, Livy?" He asked, she could hear the concern, and very clearly picture the look that was accompanying it.

"I'm fine, babe," She said, "You just woke me up is all."

"Is Jasper still in his own bed?"

"He is," She looked over at the clock – it was close to three, "And it's almost three so he'll probably be ok tonight."

"Well that's always a good thing," Fitz replied, "Hey when I get home tomorrow I have a couple free hours – I was thinking I'd take Jasper to play catch somewhere."

"Fitz, you have extra hours so that you can sleep," She replied, "You're running yourself into the ground, you're going to be exhausted. And you have bigger things on your plate."

"Are you ordering me to take a nap?" He asked, ignoring her last statement.

"Yes." She let him get away with it.

"Ok," He replied, "Just checking."

"Fitz," Olivia said, "What happens –"

"I told you I don't want you to worry about it," He told her, cutting her off, "We're going to nip it in the bud – it's not going to go anywhere."

"What if it goes to trial?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Liv," He replied, "I promise."

"You say that while you're over two thousand miles away," She retorted.

"I'll be home tomorrow, right after the speech," He said, "Can you carve in a little time for naptime before we meet with Cyrus about this ridiculous thing?"

"Maybe," She replied, then teased, "I'll have to check my schedule in the morning."

"Ok, sweet dreams, Livy," He said, and she could see his smile.

The next morning she was sitting in her office, working. Jasper was at his school, where they had instructions that if anything happened today that they were to call Huck, one of his emergency contact. She had had Gin take Desmond for the morning. While Fitz had gotten back a few hours ago – she figured it was best to let him sleep, and just see him at lunch, which is what she told him when he called her. He hadn't seemed very excited about the idea, but he had confessed that he was in fact exhausted. She had a busy morning, she was trying to piece together what kind of case Edison would have against Fitz. So far, in all she had found out – there was nothing.

She had talked to Tom already, making him promise not to tell Fitz what she was up to, and also called in the head of the secret service, a suit named Young. There was no case against Fitz. If there had been, it would have been brought up right away. She couldn't figure out how Edison was planning on attacking, there was no easy case. Fitz was acting in self-defense, Carson shot first– unless he was going to try and say that he didn't. He would have a hard time proving that either way. Her and Tom were hardly viable witnesses – and she wasn't at all sure how good the cameras were working that day.

She took a deep breath trying to pull it all together. There had to be something that Edison was seeing that she wasn't. He wasn't stupid – he wouldn't be working on this when there was no endgame. He had to have something that she didn't, she just couldn't figure out what that was. She took a deep breath and by the time she looked at the clock again it was almost noon – which meant that she was wanted back in the residence for lunch with her family.

She closed out everything that she had been working on, and hid everything away. No one could know that she was working on this – no one could know that this was happening – and that they were actually taking it seriously. She had a meeting with Cyrus, Abby, Harrison, and Huck later in the afternoon to go over their game plan – it was time to put their fixer caps on. She couldn't let Fitz get any sort of action against him – there was no way anything was going to happen to him on her watch. But right then, she had to be in the residence.

She relieved Gin so that she could run errands and get her own lunch, then took Desmond with her into the kitchen. She put him in his high chair and went to very quietly making lunch so that Fitz could get as much sleep as possible. In a split second decision, she decided to whip up one of Fitz's favorites, spaghetti and meatballs. It was so simple, and while he couldn't exactly tell the country that it was his favorite, he had to be fancier than that – she knew it really was. She just hoped he wouldn't mind the meatballs being of the frozen variety because she didn't have time to make them from scratch.

She was stirring the spaghetti and rolling the meatballs and sauce around in the pan when she heard a noise towards the entrance way. She prayed that Desmond had thrown his toy, or something, but knew better when she felt someone's eyes on her watching her from behind. She stood there – she wasn't dreaming, it had to be just a feeling. She stood there – frozen, waiting for it to go away. Then she felt a hand wipe away the hair from the back of her neck, pressure that meant lips were pressing to back of her neck, and hands slipping down to her hips. She took the wooden spoon out of the pasta – and whacked, hard, in the general direction over her shoulder where she imagined his head to be.

"Ow," Fitz said, stepping back as she turned around – realizing that it had been Fitz.

"Oh my God," She said, as he was clutching his nose, and she dropped the spoon.

"You hit me," He said in surprise as his nose started to bleed, "Hard -"

She grabbed napkins from the counter and put them up to his nose as he relaxed his arms and she led him over to the table. She sat him down, then balanced herself in his lap as she tried to make the bleeding stop, thankfully it didn't take that long, but she held a clean napkin to it anyways as she leaned in and kissed his temple.

"Babe, are you ok?" She asked and he nodded as he took her hand and pulled the napkin away.

"I'm fine," He said, still bewildered.

"I'm so sorry," She said as she ran her hand through his hair – fixing it, "But babe, you can't sneak up on me like that. I didn't know who it was."

"We're in the residence," He replied, sort of chuckling lightly, "There are guards everywhere, who else would it be?"

She was silent, and he sobered up a bit, carefully putting the cleaner of the napkins under the bloody ones. He took a deep breath, and looked right into her eyes – understanding. He knew as soon as he said it exactly who she had thought it was, and it broke his heart. He leaned up and pressed his lips to hers as softly as he possibly could, pulling her in close so that she was cuddled, her head firmly on his chest as he ran his hands across her back soothingly.

"I'm sorry, Liv," He said softly as he exhaled.

"It's ok," She replied, as she looked up at him, "I'm more sorry."

"It stopped bleeding," Fitz replied, one hand patting down her hair, "I'm fine."

"I love you," She told him, and he smiled.

He stood up, taking her with him in his arms, and then sat her down in the chair. He kissed her forehead and went over to Desmond. He pulled him out of his chair and handed him over to Olivia. He smiled as he kissed her forehead again.

"You play with Desmond, I'll finish up cooking."

"No, Fitz, you just got home, you play with Des," Olivia said, "I can finish up lunch."

"Nope," He replied smugly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine," She said, putting Desmond onto her hip and heading out into the boys' playroom.

Fitz called her back in only once he had completely set the table, and cut enough of everything up to put it in Desmond's tray for him. He went out and got them personally, smiling as he watched her playing with Desmond, and not jumping at every little noise. They were about halfway through lunch when Huck walked right into the residence, holding Jasper's hand, and carrying his little backpack with the other. Olivia took a breath – she had forgotten she had had the school call Huck for the day.

"Thanks, Huck," She said as Jasper ran over and climbed up on her lap – hugging her tightly.

"It's no problem," He replied as Fitz got up and took the backpack from him – going and hanging it on the hook, "I don't mind picking the little guy up. He was really upset."

"His nightmares really do that to him," Olivia said, dropping her fork and holding the little boy close to her as he tried to get closer.

"Thanks, Huck," Fitz said as he walked back into the room, "Do you want something to eat? We have more than enough."

"No, I'm ok, sir," He replied, then looked back at Olivia, "I have something I want to do before our meeting."

"Ok," Olivia replied and Huck nodded as he backed out of the room.

"You're meeting with Huck this afternoon?" Fitz asked, a little taken by surprise.

"And Cyrus, Abby, and Harrison," Olivia replied simply and he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you off to fix something this afternoon?" He asked, "Cyrus didn't mention anything to me."

"We're getting a game plan together," She replied, and he nodded.

"Shouldn't I be there?"

"You promised to play catch with Jasper, and then you have meetings all afternoon," She replied, going back to her meal as Jasper settled down a little better, "We'll take care of it."

"There's nothing to take care of," Fitz replied, "Your ex there has gone a bit off his rocker."

"Very true," Olivia replied, "But we have to figure out how we're going to approach it if he makes it a big deal."

"I kinda feel like I'm being handled," He said as he cleaned Desmond up and put him on the kitchen floor, "Jazz, Jazz."

"Mmm?" He looked up from where he had hid his head near Olivia's arm.

"Des wants you to play with him," Fitz told him as Desmond reached for his brother.

"Jas!"

"Ok," Jasper said, climbing off of Olivia's lap and ushering his brother out of the room.

"You are being handled," Olivia said as she stood up and they were putting the dishes into the dishwasher.

"I don't like it," He said, "Almost as much as I don't like you jumping at every little noise."

"We figured that I could fill you in on what we're going to do tonight," Olivia told him and he nodded.

"Just what I want in pillow talk," He teased as he took her into his arms and held her close.

"Fitz, it's going to be ok," She told him, looking up at him softly.

"I know it is," He replied, leaning down and kissing his forehead, "I love you."

"I love you so much," She said, wrapping her arms up around his neck.

"Do you now?"

"I have to get to my meeting," She pouted, kissing him soft and quick, "You have time to wait with Desmond for Gin? She should be here in a few minutes."

"Sure," Fitz replied as Olivia kissed him softly, and left the residence.

By the time she got down to the meeting – she was the last one arriving. Everyone else was already sitting around the conference table when she walked in, but they were all silent. She walked in and sat down at the head of the table. Cyrus was sitting to her right, and Huck to her left – the other two were sitting further down the table – surprised at the mixture of staffs.

"Why is he here?" Abby asked her, nodding towards Cyrus, "He doesn't ever show up unless it's—"

"Cyrus," Olivia said, her voice serious and her posture rigid, "Please fill everyone else in on what's been going on."

"Edison Davis has popped back up on our radar," Cyrus said, looking to Harrison and Abby.

"Someone needs to beat the shit out of that guy," Abby commented, and Cyrus nodded.

"I agree," Harrison replied, "But what are we supposed to do about him?"

"He's looking into the night that Carson was shot," Olivia had to put authority back into her voice if she was going to get anything out without a complete discussion, so that was what she did, "He's trying to build a case against Fitz about the night of the shooting – he wants to find a way to at least be able to blame him for part of the shooting."

"But that's ridiculous," Harrison said, "No one even began to blame him – his bullet hit Carson's shoulder. Never mind the fact that Carson was holding a gun to his wife's head – it's textbook self-defense. Even if the president shot him in the head himself I don't think you could build a case. The guy had a gun in the Oval Office."

"Be that as it may, we need to figure out what he's going to do next," Olivia replied, "He told me about it, so we have to figure out who else he's going to tell, and who else he's trying to tell. We need to throw a blanket over this and smother it before it actually starts to burn, got it?"

"Yes," Harrison replied.

"And you have to keep it totally under wraps," She said, aiming this at Huck, Abby, and Harrison, "Cyrus – I need you to really give Fitz a chance to shine. He needs to be an absolute golden boy – a shiny, shiny, golden boy."

"I think I can manage that, it's always been pretty easy for him," Cyrus replied, as they got up from the table, "He's playing catch with Jasper right now, right?"

Cyrus took off, leaving Olivia with what was left of her team.

"I know we haven't fixed things in a while, but I really need this to be fixed," Olivia told them and they nodded, "If they decide to take Edison seriously – if he gets impeached – if he goes to jail…"

"We're on it, Olivia," Harrison said, and Abby nodded firmly, "Don't worry, we won't let Senator Davis get away with this."

By the time that Olivia was walking into the residence that night, it was already much later than she usually was doing so. The meeting had been a last minute add that had sent her day into a bit of chaos, mostly because it was closely followed by a phone call from Gin saying that Desmond was throwing a hissy fit calling for her. So, Jasper and Desmond spent quite a bit of time in her office that afternoon – which meant that anything she tried to do took her twice the amount of time that it usually would. Fitz came and picked them up around dinner time, but she just had a few more things to finish up.

She looked around and saw that Fitz was in the kitchen, and she walked right up to him and forced herself into his arms.

"Long day?" He chuckled as he kissed the top of her head, pulling her just that much tighter.

"Mmhmmm," She replied as she looked up at him, "Abby, Harrison, and Huck are snooping around on Edison – they'll be able to say in a couple days whether or not we really have to worry. Also, you're going to have to play up your charm."

"Ok," Fitz replied, kissing her forehead, "That's exactly what Cy said when he showed up to take pictures of Jazz and I playing catch."

"Right," She said, and her stomach growled, "What did you have for dinner?"

"Our dinners are in the oven staying warm," He replied, "The boys are already in bed, and have been out for about twenty minutes."

"Fantastic," Olivia replied as he leaned down and kissed her softly.

Then she was gone, out of his arms and pulling their dinners out of the oven. She put them down on the table – and Fitz just kind of watched her from over by the counter.

"You aren't hungry, babe?"

"I am," He replied, "I just want to talk to you about something first."

"Ok," she said, sitting down, "Do you mind if I eat?"

"Course not," He said, walking over and sitting down across from her.

"So what is it?" Olivia asked, and Fitz sighed.

"I'd like you to look into going and talking to someone," He said as if it were all one word.

"No," She replied and he sighed.

"Livy, you hit me with a wooden spoon this afternoon," He said, "And Karen noticed something was off with you too."

"I'm not going to talk to some stranger," Olivia replied, and Fitz swallowed, hard.

"Well you won't talk to me about it, and I don't know how to help you," He said as she stood up.

"I'm not hungry anymore," She said and Fitz got up.

"Livy…"

"I'm going to bed, Fitz," She replied as she went out of the room, and Fitz followed her into the bedroom.

"Livy…"

"I am not going to see a shrink, Fitz," She said as Jasper rand into the room, and clung to Fitz's leg.

"What's wrong, Jazz?" Olivia paused her argument as Fitz picked the boy up.

"I had another nightmare," He said as Fitz kissed the top of his head, "Can I sleep in here tonight?"

"Why don't you try and go back to sleep in your own bed?" Fitz asked, and Olivia shot him a look.

"Of course you can, Jazz," She said, taking the little boy from his father's arms, "C'mon."


	5. Wait

A/N: Apologies for it being so long since I updated… sorry it's a little short- but it's active…. Hope you guys enjoy :)

In Too Deep

Chapter Five: Wait.

Fitz looked from his wife to his son the next morning. Jasper quite clearly had gotten his stubborn side from her, and he didn't feel the least bit guilty about thinking of it that way. He had been driving himself crazy trying to keep them all ok, to try and help Jasper, and try and make sure Olivia was doing ok. He had gotten her to talk to someone right away – they wouldn't let her leave the hospital if she didn't – but after that she had shut herself off. He had expected for her to at least talk to him about it, but it seemed like she was afraid to talk to him.

If she wanted to spiral out of control, that was her wish – but Fitz wasn't just going to sit there and watch it happen. He wasn't going to watch the same happen to Jasper, because he had a lot more of a say there – even if he personally had to deliver him to the therapist himself – even if he was kicking and screaming. Olivia on the other hand, would never allow it. He understood that she was trying to protect him, and trying to keep him safe – but with all he had been through, he needed help. He couldn't keep getting sent home from school, he would never be able to move on. They put him in nursery school early because he was brilliant, and he needed new things to learn and new people to socialize with – well he wasn't doing that if he was coming home early every day.

"Olivia," He said as the boys went off into the other room to play, "We need to talk about all of this."

"Talk about what?" She asked, and he took a deep breath.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I want to talk about," He replied, a little ticked off, "I'm not just going to stand here and pretend that everything is fine while I watch you and Jasper fall apart. Honestly, I can't stop you from doing that to yourself – wish I could - but I will not allow it for Jasper. I want him to go get some help. He's four years old, he has his whole life ahead of him, he needs to learn how to deal with what's happened to him. He doesn't need coddling anymore – it's been over a year, he needs us to help him learn how to deal with it. I know that no kid his age should have something like what happened happen to him, but it did. I'm not going to let it define him."

"Ok," Olivia replied, and Fitz took a deep breath – he hadn't been expecting such a quick submission.

"Seriously?"

"I'll clear my day and talk to him about it," She replied, looking over at her husband cautiously, "While I do know that he does need to get better – I don't think that dragging him into the therapists office kicking a screaming is going to be very productive. I'll see if I can convince him."

"Convince him?" Fitz replied, "He's a kid, we're his parents. We're supposed to take care of him, like making him eat his vegetables, and making him go to bed on time."

"I'd like to give him one more chance for it to be his idea," Olivia replied, and Fitz nodded understandingly.

"And what about yourself?"

"I'm fine," She replied and Fitz rolled his eyes.

"You're fine?" He asked it like he couldn't believe his ears, "Olivia, you are anything but fine. I love you, and I'm terrified of losing you into this black hole – can't you see that? It's fine when you get spooked out when Karen walks into the room, and it's almost funny when you hit me with a spoon so hard that you draw blood. Except there's nothing funny about it, I don't like you living like that, Liv. And it would be nice for you to do it for me, I'd appreciate it greatly, but you need to do it for the boys. What happens when Jasper comes to you and you accidentally throw him across the room? What happens when Desmond – who won't know anything of what happened – sneaks up on you when he's a little bigger? I'm not saying you're a danger to them, that's not– Just think about it ok? I don't actually think you'll hurt them I just - I have to go, I'll see you later."

He went into the playroom and hugged and kissed the boys goodbye.

"Can you take Des with you this morning?" Olivia asked as she appeared in the doorway, and he scooped the younger son up.

"I have a pretty easy morning," He replied as she brought out his diaper bag, "One of the perks of living where you work I guess?"

"Thanks," Olivia replied, and he nodded as he got up next to her in the doorway.

"I love you," He told her, feeling slightly off about being so at ends with her, he kissed her forehead.

"I know," She replied, her hand softly going up to his face, "And I love you too."

"Do you think you can pick him up around noon?" He asked, "I have a meeting with the SECNAV, that I would prefer not having a toddler at."

"Of course," she replied and he nodded

Fitz left with Desmond in his arms and the diaper back over his shoulder. Olivia took a deep breath and looked over at Jasper who was sitting on the floor in his play room playing with his blocks. She went over as sat down with him. She smiled as she helped him build his tower, then laughed and clapped as he hit it down.

"Mom, why were you and daddy arguing?" Jasper asked and Olivia panicked – she was not giving this child another complex to work out.

"We weren't arguing, baby, we were talking," She replied, "And even if we do argue, we love each other so much that it doesn't even matter."

"So daddy's not going to leave all of us, like Gerry and Karen's mommy did?" He asked and Olivia's heart broke.

"No, baby," She said, pulling him onto her lap and hugging him tight, "You're daddy's not going anywhere. Because guess what?"

"What?"

"Because your daddy loves you, and he loves Des, and he loves me way too much to let any of us go," She told him, and he smiled.

"That's good, because I love daddy," He replied and Olivia smiled.

"Me too," Olivia said and he giggled as he let him up and we went to pull out his cars.

"Well, hello there," Olivia looked around into the doorway to see Gerry standing there in a suit.

"Gerry!" Jasper ran over to him, and he hoisted him right up into his arms.

"Hey, little man," He said as Olivia walked over and hugged him.

"What're you doing here?" Olivia asked him and he smiled.

"I got sent over here for work, so I figured I'd stop in and check on my favorite little brothers," He said, looking around, "Where's Des?"

"He's in the Oval with your dad," Olivia told him, and he nodded.

"I see," He said, "This is a much different White House than I grew up in."

"Take that one up with you mother – when eventually speak with her again."

"I'll tag it onto the list," He replied, giving Jasper a big hug, than handing him back to her, "I'm going to dad and Des, then it's back to work."

"What're you doing for dinner tonight?" Olivia asked him, "Can I feed you?"

"You can always feed me," He smiled and Olivia beamed, "Thanks, mum."

It slipped out before he could catch it – and he looked embarrassed.

"It's ok," She told him, walking over and hugging him again, "I think of you and Karen as mine anyways – I'm not offended. I'm just not your mother."

"You can say that again," He replied, as he headed out backwards, "Thanks, Liv. I'll see you tonight."

"What do you want to do now, Jazz?" Olivia asked.

"Can we go to school?"

"School?" Olivia asked, as she sat back down with him, "So you like school."

"I like to learn new stuff," He replied, "And there's other kids there – that's why I don't like having to leave during naptime. No else does, everyone else is fine."

"Jazz, what do you think about going to talk to someone again?" She asked.

"No," He said instantly, and Olivia sighed.

"Why not?"

"Why don't you wanna go?" He asked, "You have nightmares too."

Olivia tried to hide her surprise.

"You know, you're way too smart for your own good," Olivia told him.

"Daddy thinks so too," He replied, as he started to play with one of his cars.

"No more school for you," She teased him, in her best 'monster voice' as she tickled him, and he laughed.

"You didn't tell Daddy about my nightmares, did you?"

"You sleep in the same bed," Jasper said, and Olivia nodded, "How could he not know?"

Olivia accepted this.

"Jasper, the way both of us have been scared all the time, it's not normal," She told him, "I don't want to talk to anyone about it either. But I'll make you a deal, we'll both go and talk. We'll find an office that has someone who can talk to both of us. We'll go together in the morning, and then we'll go and do something fun together."

"Just the two of us?" He asked and she nodded.

"Just us," She promised him, and he nodded.

"Ok," He said, and Olivia smiled – mission accomplished.

"I'll find us somewhere," She told him as he went to put his toys away, "And we'll start going next week."

"Ok," He replied.

"You finish cleaning up," She told him, "Then we have to run down to my office to make sure everything's ok. But after we'll read for a little while, then we'll go and get Des, ok?" "Alright," Jasper said, as if she was putting him out – and she chuckled. She went out to her bedroom to grab a an information packet that she was going to read the night before – but obviously hadn't had the time or mood to do so. She had to at least bring it down to the office – she was meeting with Harrison and Abby in the afternoon. For that Gin was coming in to watch the boys – Cyrus had put a hole in Fitz's schedule on purpose so that he could be there. They were meeting in Olivia's office , so she had to make sure that everything was all set down there. She let Jasper play with Desmond's toys in the corner of her office while she arranged and set up for the meeting. She had the chairs all around the room, they would have to do final set up as they walked in. She wondered what they will have found in twenty-four hours. She assumed that Huck would have the most information. She sighed as she looked around the office. "Nice place," Edison said as he walked into her office. "This is my office – what're you doing here?" Olivia said and he shrugged. "You haven't banned me from the white house yet," He replied and Olivia glared at him. "You know there's only a few reasons why you haven't," Olivia replied as Jasper walked over and she picked him up, "But right now I promised Jasper I'd read him a story. Which means we have to go – meaning you cannot be here, this is my private office. You are not welcome here. Who even let you in here?" "I'll go," He replied as he went out of the room. About an hour later Olivia was carrying Jasper into the Oval office. She smiled as she spotted Fitz sitting with Desmond playing in front of his desk with some of his toys. She chuckled as she set Jasper down and he went over to play with his brother. "Don't worry, Cy already came by and took a picture," He said as he stood up. "It's still cute," She said and he smiled as he leaned in and kissed him softly.

"Right," He replied as he put his arms around her, "I have a meeting in a few minutes."

"Ok, but Gerry's coming to dinner," She told him and he smiled.

"Excellent."

"And you have a new job," She told him.

"What?" He said.

"You have to find a therapist's office that does kids therapy and grown up therapy," She said, "We'll go together in the morning on Tuesdays."

"I'll see if they can come here," He replied, his face lighting up, "You're serious though?"

"Absolutely."


	6. Decisions, Decisions

A/N: Hey there everyone, sorry it's been so long on an update on this one, I'll try to get a little better on balancing the stories a little bit better... Enjoy, and leave me a note! They make me smile :)

In Too Deep

Chapter Six: Decisions, Decisions

"So why am I here, First Lady Grant?"

Olivia winced at the name, but tried to not make it as well known to the woman sitting across from her - her therapist. They were sitting in one of the parlor's near the residence, and Jasper was with his therapist in the next room over. Fitz himself had found both of them, Cyrus had vetted them, and they had agreed to come to the White House for sessions. She was a little worried about how Jasper would fair, but she trusted Fitz and Cy's judgement. Jasper would be fine. She, on the other hand, hadn't really said a word since she had greeted her and they had sat down.

Olivia just stored of stared back at her after she asked the question. Of all the things, the answers, that were running like a montage through her head she couldn't think of one reason she could actually tell her. Telling her that Fitz had begged her to see someone wasn't really an option - she couldn't say it was a deal she made with Jasper, either. she didn't want to bring up the nightmares just yet, she probably would eventually, but for now they weren't a problem.

"Don't call me 'First Lady'," Olivia told her, trying to keep a calm, kind, tone, "Olivia or Mrs. Grant is fine."

"Ok, Olivia," She said, looking a little concerned, "Is there a reason you don't like being called the First Lady?"

"I don't mind when the news does or they announce me somewhere as it," She clarified, "But I think it's just the connotations. I'm not exactly your average First Lady..."

"Does it have anything to do with your husband's ex-wife?" She asked, and Olivia didn't say anything, "How's the relationship with her?"

"Non-existant," Olivia told her, "Except for what we saw of her on the campaign trail, we haven't seen or heard from her in years. She hasn't seen the kids since she showed up with a photographer to drop Jerry off at college for the first time - and even before that they never saw her."

"She abandoned them?"

"Yes."

"Well I can see a little better why you don't want to be thought of as anything like her," She replied with a kind smile, "But you two were friends at one point, right?"

"No, we were never friends," Olivia said firmly.

"Oh?"

"It was hushed up, but Fitz and I fell in love at first sight," Olivia told her, "We were in love before he was even president the first time. Mellie knew the whole time and manipulated both of us - but mostly him - based on knowing. She had no problem with it as long as she didn't get dethrowned, she honestly didn't care less - she supported it on many an occasion."

"I'm sensing some anger there, and rightfully so," said the Therapist, "But I'm trying to get a big picture here - So you were emotionally invested when he was shot?"

"I was."

"How do his older children feel about you?" She asked, "Do you get along with them?"

"I love Karen and Gerry," Olivia told her, "They have a mother - but I think of them as mine, too. They'v both slipped a couple times and called me 'mom'."

"How do they act with the younger two? Your children?"

"I don't think they realize sometimes that they're only half related to them," Olivia said, "They're just their little brothers. Gerry's really protective of both of them, he didn't want Fitz to run again at first. To the older to he was their father, 'father' or 'Dad' for a very long time, which has been rectified now. But to the little ones he's always been 'Daddy', Gerry was worried that if he was back in the White House that the boys would lose 'Daddy' and gain 'father'. Which they haven't - and Fitz has been overly preoccupied making sure that that doesn't happen."

"And how is he managing his time with you?"

"He's very attentive," She answered her simply, "We spend about the same amount of time together as we did when I was working all the time. I'm really a workaholic when I really get into it."

"Well that sounds good then," She said, giving her a friendly, cautious smile, "So your son's seeing someone too, how old are each of the boys?"

"Jasper's almost five," Olivia said, "And Desmond's one and a half."

"Where's Desmond?"

"Fitz has him with him in the Oval."

"Ok," She said, "Now I'm going to ask you again, if you don't mind, why am I here?"

"My husband and Karen are concerned, they think I might have some sort of PTSD."

"Karen?"

"She's studying psych at school."

"Ah," She said, "It makes sense - you went through an awful lot. Just going by what was in the news: You were in a car accident, your mother was killed in a hotel room watching your children, you were held hostage in her husband's office..."

"You did your homework."

"Your husband gave me a little to go on - he really loves you, you know," She told her, and Olivia nodded - she knew, "So do you think there's any truth in it?"

"A little bit," Olivia replied.

"Ok, so let's start with the first time your husband was shot - outside his birthday gala..."

An hour and a half of a box of tissues later Olivia had just about spilled her guts about everything that had happened. From the way that her whole world had shifted when she heard the gunshots, the way she felt when she was running over to Cyrus, the security was scrambling around. She had only gotten up to the point where she was standing in the emergency room and they were running him away from her off into surgery. The way it was to see him rushing away from her on that gurney, Mellie screaming her lungs out in the background and her just standing there. The way that it hurt, it was so bad that she couldn't say or do anything - she was frozen.

"That's about where I'm going to have to stop you, I'm sorry," She said, "I have another appointment across town. This is good though. Do you think you'll be ready to get right into things when I see you again...Thursday?"

"Sure," Olivia said, pulling out her phone for her calendar, "I have a free spot at four."

"Ok," She said, as they got up, they turned around and saw Fitz edging into the room.

"All done?" He said, Desmond on his hip as he went right over to her.

"All set," said the therapist as she stuck her notes back into her bag.

"You ok?" Fitz asked her, noticing a little streak in her mascara as he gave her a one armed hug.

"I'm fine," She said, reaching for Desmond, and Fitz passed him right off to her as he kissed her head, "Where's Jazz."

"Gerry came to pick him up for the day," Fitz told her, "He said he'd have him back for dinner."

"Good, did you ask him how it went?" Olivia asked as they headed out into the hall.

"He said he liked her," Fitz said as they started walking vaguely towards the Oval Office, "I scheduled him for another on Thursday, lucky enough."

"So what're we doing?" She asked as he directed her away from their usual path.

"I thought we could do something with Desmond for a little while," He said, "I have a meeting tonight, I won't be back for dinner. I won't be there before he goes to bed - Jasper I can still watch cartoons with before he goes to sleep."

"Ok," Olivia smiled, as Fitz took their son back from her, "So what do you want to do, Mr. President?"

"Let's take him for a walk around the grounds," He said, "I wish we could take him to a real park..."

"Well, Mr. President, I don't think that would fly," Olivia said, looking back at Tom, who nodded in agreement.

They walked out of the backdoors, and Fitz set Desmond on the back lawn as he took Olivia's hand in his. He looked over his shoulder and spotted Tom looking around to the gate, where there were photographers pressed up against the edge of the hedges. He smiled a little to himself, grateful for the gates holding them back as Tom went over to ask them to leave - they wouldn't but it would be nice. He picked Olivia up, throwing her casually over his shoulder as he ran after Desmond.

"Fitz, Fitz," She chuckled as he stopped beside Desmond, "Your arm."

"It's fine," He told her, setting her down with a kiss as he plopped down to sit and be eye level with Desmond.

"Daddy!" He squealed as Fitz laid down on his back, lifting Desmond above his head as Olivia sat down beside him.

"There you go, buddy," Fitz said, setting him back down, and he ran over towards the sandbox that they had had put in for Jasper - it was only a little ways away.

"Careful, Desmond," Olivia warned him as he started to play with a couple of the trucks in there.

"He's fine," Fitz said as he leaned in and kissed the side of her head, "Livy, he's fine."

"I want a girl," Olivia said, off the top of her head, and Fitz raised his eyebrows as she leaned back into his chest.

"Really?" He was a little more than surprised.

"No - I don't know," She said, leaning up and kissing him softly, "I probably shouldn't have said anything."

"No," He said, shaking his head, "No, I just want to know if you're serious. We should talk about it, if you want another kid. But Livy, I'm one for four with girls - the chances-"

"Ok," She said, "I think Desmond's just getting out of the baby phase too fast. It was stupid, sorry."

"It's not stupid," Fitz told her, pressing his lips to hers quickly, "I love you, I would love to have another child with you. However, I think we're already working with too much to chew. "

"That's probably right," She replied as she leaned in and kissed him again softly.

"So we'll talk about it, once Jasper's sleeping in his own room more than a few nights a week?"

"Definitely," Olivia said, nodding, "And maybe once Edison's stopped snooping around?"

Fitz sighed heavily, closing his eyes, bracing himself. He tensed up, and he knew she could feel it - but she had no idea. The last thing that he wanted was to think about Edison, he had been thinking about his Edison problem all morning - and would be later on. He took a deep breath and tried to relax, if she knew what was in the works, she would stop it. But he had to handle this, or at least try. This one shouldn't be Olivia's responsibility to fix. He was her husband, he was supposed to at least make some things go away. He brushed his knuckled against her arm as he racked his brain for something to say - she knew him too well she would know something was up.

"Well we'll have to make a decision pretty quickly afterwards," He said, "I'm starting to get a little old."

"You're not old, babe," She said, "Besides, like I said, it's a stupid idea anyways."

"Mommy!" Desmond called from where he was sitting in the sand.

"What's up, sweetie?" Olivia hopped up and walked over towards him, Fitz getting up and following her over slowly.

Fitz tried to keep that picture of Olivia sitting on the edge of the sandbox with Desmond as he walked back to his office later that evening. He went to his closet and grabbed his jacket, putting it on as he straightened himself all out. He was counting on the idea that he would at least seem a little bit intimidating. Tom and a couple other agents walked into the room.

"Ready to go, Sir?" He asked, and Fitz nodded, "Did you speak with Mrs. Grant about this?"

"I think we both know what kind of question that is," Fitz glared at Tom, who decided to back down a little bit.

Fitz hated this, he hated going behind Olivia's back like this - but he was doing what he had to do. They escorted him down to the basement, where Cyrus was waiting for them. That was just making it worse, the fact that Cyrus was involved, and Olivia still didn't know - he swallowed hard as Cyrus opened the door for him. They slipped into the backseat and closed the door. Fitz sat in silence for the whole ride, he didn't feel right about it - he was about to make everything worse, but he had no choice at this point. He couldn't pull out now, the meeting was already in play - Edison would already be there.

"What do you want?" Fitz asked, as he got out of the car, it was dark, "I don't have much time, Davis. I have a country to run and a family waiting for me to get home."

"I know you're a busy man," Edison said, "I'm just saying you shouldn't be."

"What do you want?" Fitz asked him, "You want money? You're not going to get it. You want Liv? That's never going to happen, you can send me to jail for the rest of my life and she will be bringing the boys to visit me. I don't see what your motivation is with this whole thing, even saying all of this you wouldn't win."

"You broke protocol, and an American is dead," Edison said, "You don't deserve to be President."

"So that's what you want, my job?" Fitz said, trying to keep it condescending, "Even if your bury me, you will never be the President, Davis."

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Edison replied, "You want to pay more attention to this."

"I don't have to," He replied, "Have fun making your conspiracy videos."

He got back into the car, and let his resolve fall a little bit.

"What's wrong?" Cyrus asked.

"He knows I broke protocol," Fitz sighed as he leaned back in his seat as the car headed back to the White House.

"Someone's talking to him," Cyrus replied, "That was never released that you went around the barricade."

"Yeah," said Fitz.

"Damnit, he might have something," Cyrus said, "Nothing too awful - but something. I'll figure out a way to bring it to Olivia's attention in the meeting tomorrow."

Fitz didn't say anything - he once again didn't say anything the whole ride back. He walked back into the residence a little earlier than he thought he would, which he was a little happy about. Not much was going to pull him out of that cloud though. Jasper was just finishing up his dinner at the kitchen table, and Fitz went over and kissed the top of his head.

"Where's mom?" Fitz asked him, taking away his empty dishes.

"It's Des's bedtime," Jasper informed him, and he looked over at the clock.

"You wanna watch some cartoons or something before bed?"

"Yeah, Daddy," He said, as he slipped off of his seat and Fitz followed him slowly into the living room.

"Ok, buddy," He said, his mind still racing about his meeting with Edison, "Spongebob or Batman?"


	7. Conferences

A/N: Hello, all. Thanks for sticking with this story :) ENJOY!

In Too Deep  
Chapter Seven: Conferences

Fitz was sitting in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon with the boys playing in front of his desk. Jasper was causing his toy soilders fall off the coffee table - trying to get the tiny paper parachutes attached to their backs to work. Desmond was happily discovering that the rug in the office was much thicker and harder to roll his cars on than the hardwood ones in the hall that he usually used them on. Fitz smiled at them over the briefing he was reading, he didn't mind one bit keeping an eye on them while Olivia was at her therapy session. Jasper's therpist would be escorted in and to the residence at five for his session.

"Des," He said as he got up from behind his desk and walked over - picking his youngest son up and putting him down off the carpet, "Try them over here."

"Dad," Jasper said as he paused a minute from sending his toy soldiers and their inadequate parachutes to their deaths.

"Yes, sport?" He said as he sat down on the floor, within his arm's length of each of them.

"Can we play catch later?"

"Maggie's coming to see you later," Fitz told him, they had figured out the secret to his therapy, keeping it low-key, "We'll play catch tomorrow? You're first practice is next week."

"It is?"

"Yeah, next Friday," Fitz told him, "I'm going to clear my schedule that afternoon so I can bring you, ok?"

"Ok, Daddy."

Fitz looked at his watch, then got up and went over to the desk. He put the briefings he had been reading in his drawer and then went over and scooped Desmond up, sliding his cars over to the edge of the room. Jasper, picking up on the fact that it was time to go threw his soldiers into his little backpack and threw it onto his back. Fitz carried Desmond on his hip and offered Jasper his hand as they headed out.

They got to the residence about the same time as Maggie - who took Jasper into the library for his session. Fitz set Desmond into his pack'n'play in the corner of the kitchen and started working on dinner while he waited for Olivia to get back. She had had a meeting with Cyrus and her team about the newest development in the whole Edison thing. From what he understood they were working on figuring out who Edison was talking to - just for starters.

"Look who I found on the way to drop something off in your office," Olivia smiled as she walked into the kitchen with Gerry in toe, "I've got all my boys tonight."

She went over and kissed Fitz briefly, but they both knew it was simply a teaser for what they would get to later. Gerry went over and scooped Desmond out of his pen. The baby giggled as his big brother kissed the side of his head.

"How was your day?" Fitz asked her.

"Good," She said, "My last meeting was cut short because of Cyrus's daughter's dance recital."

"How about you, Ger?"

"Shadowing politicians all day is really boring," He shared the day's observation.

"It'll be worth it later, Gerry," Olivia encouraged him, "Where's Jazz?"

"He's still with Maggie - they should be back soon," Fitz told her as she took her baby back from Gerry.

"Right," Olivia said as she sat down at the table, Desmond in her lap.

"Maggie?" Gerry questioned as he pulled out the chair beside Olivia and took a seat.

"His therapist," Fitz told him as he set dinner to simmer and went and sat with them.

"Oh good," Gerry said, leaning back, "You've gotten him to start talking to someone."

"We do," Olivia said, "Twice a week, his nightmares haven't slowed down though."

"He's only had it one other time," Fitz reminded her, "It's not magic."

"I'm going to go change into something a little comfier," Olivia said as she got up, handing Desmond off to Gerry as she dismissed herself from the room.

"So how's it going, Dad?" Gerry asked, bouncing his baby brother on his knee.

"It's fine," Fitz said, taking a sip of wine as he poured one for him, and one for Olivia.

"Cut the crap, Dad," He said, "Have you forgotten who I'm working under. He's keeping what ever's going on shady, but I can tell it's not good."

"Everything is under control, Gerry," Fitz replied and he narrowed his gaze at him.

"Are you sure?" Gerry asked, as Fitz took the Desmond from him and snuggled him into his chest.

"We're working on it, ok?"

"So Liv is back in the fixing business," He commented, and Fitz rolled his eyes, feeding Desmond a little piece of apple, "I'm working right under him - why hasn't she asked me for anything?"

"I'm sure she's trying to keep you out of it," Fitz said, "We were trying to keep all of you out of it. It's nonsense really, he's got nothing to go on - he's trying to make three plus six equal five."

"Then why is Liv bothering to look into it? - Whatever it is?"

"Because it could turn into something if it goes anywhere," Fitz told him, "It has to do with the night Carson was killed. Senator Davis wants to make it out to be my fault."

"What? That's insane," Gerry said, "Why would that even come up?"

"Everyone who ever would have met me knows I am and I always have been insanely jealous when it comes to her," He said, "I'm the President, and I didn't obey the orders of my security team..."

"Tom would have killed him anyways," Gerry said, "Any red blooded American guy in your shoes would have done the same thing. He shot first, at the president."

"The argument is that I shouldn't have even been in the room, Gerry," Fitz replied, "And there's not much we can do so disprove that. I went around the barricades, and I went in the room with the intentions of getting Olivia out - no matter what I had to do to do so."

"But it's clearly classified under self defense."

"We don't know what his angle will be," Fitz replied, kissing the top of Desmond's head, "So is that why you came to visit then?"

"No," He replied, shaking his head, "Karen got a call from Mom last night - she wants us to come visit her this weekend."

"She does?" Fitz didn't even bother trying to hide his surprise.

"Yeah, I was surprised to get that call from Karen too," He replied, "She said she'd send us tickets if we'd come. Karen wants to go, but I don't really think it's a good idea."

"And why not?"

"I know Mom," He said, "There's something in this for her, and I will not let her hurt Karen again."

"You're nineteen and twenty years old," He told him, "You don't have to ask my permission to go see her - you never did really."

"I know that, dad," Gerry said, "I just don't know how to tell her that I don't want to go, and I don't think she should either. It's sort of disrespectful to Liv."

"How do you figure?" Fitz asked, he knew exactly how he figured and knew that at least on some really subconcious level it would in fact hurt Liv.

"Well she's basically taken care of us since even before you and mom split," Gerry replied cautiously, "She held Karen while she cried on her first birthday after the split and mom didn't show up - she stayed in the hospital with me for days - She used to send us care packages at boarding school - she helped look after us during the summer- she's more our mother than mom has ever been."

"But your mother's still your mother. Liv loves you two just wants you two to be happy, she's not going to hold it against you - and what if your mother honestly just wants to spend time with you?" Fitz told him, "You're right, I don't buy that she's not scheming something either - but isn't that something Karen has to figure out on her own? And you can't just send her out there by herself.

"I know that, Dad," He replied, and then he dropped the subject as soon as Olivia walked back into the room.

She was now in a pair of form fitting jeans and a t-shirt and Fitz smiled to himself as she came into view. She walked right up to him and scooped Desmond up out of his arms. He watched her lift the boy up over her head and toss him about an inch out of her hands. He laughed and giggled, and sighed once he was placed right back into his mother's usually over-protective arms.

"What're you two boys talking about?" Olivia asked as she settled Desmond on her hip - going over and throwing Jasper's mac'n'cheese on too, "We should try to get him to eat a little bit of something else tonight too, babe."

"OK," Fitz said as he got up, went over and kissed the side of her neck, and leaned against the counter.

"You two have fun with that," Gerry chuckled as Olivia set Desmond down.

"Look who's back," Fitz smiled as Jasper came in, Maggie leading him by the hand.

"You have a good chat, Jazz?" Gerry asked as he lifted Desmond into his lap.

"Yes," He said as he ran over, "Gerry!"

"Hey, buddy," He smiled as he pulled him up with one arm, holding him sideways, and securing Desmond on his hip with the other hand.

"Careful," Olivia warned him, and he nodded as he carried both boys off into the play room.

"Thanks for everything, Maggie," Fitz said, wrapping his arms around Olivia, "We really appreciate it."

"It's really no problem, Mr. President," She said, "Jazz is a sweet kid, I don't mind helping him one bit."

"Would you like something to drink?" Olivia asked her, and she shook her head.

"I wanted to talk to you two about something," She said and they both looked around at her, "I want to make sure that I'm on the right track, so it won't be anything for another couple weeks - but I've been thinking that Jasper needs to be put on some sort of medication - probably an antidepressant."

"He's not even five yet," Fitz said, looking like he had just spit out something disgusting.

"Your son is exhibiting severe depression like symptoms, especially for his age," She said, "He's not sleeping, he's thinking a lot about death... you're right, he's five. He should be worrying about how many cars he has versus the neighbor kid, but he's not. He's gone through a major tragedy and witnessed his grandmother's murder. That's something usually none of us have to deal with."

"There has to be something else we could try," Olivia tried to be diplomatic.

"I'll look into it, but I don't know that it will work," She said, "I just wanted to come to you both with the idea before it was a definite prognosis."

"Ok," Olivia said as Gerry walked back in, holding Desmond's hand and Jasper running up to his mother, who scooped him up.

"I'll go now," Maggie said, "I'll see you on Monday, ok little guy?"

"Bye, Miss Maggie," Jasper smiled and waved from Olivia's arms as she left the room.

"What's going on?" Gerry asked, looking from his father to Liv and back again.

"Nothing," Fitz told him for a second time that night, and Gerry shot him a look, "Can you set Desmond up in his high chair, please."

"Gerry can you sleep over tonight?" Jasper asked Gerry as Olivia put him down in a seat beside his older brother.

"Sure," Gerry said, "Tomorrow's my day off - we'll play games and watch cartoons, ok?"

"Yes!" Jasper said and Olivia smiled as they all sat down to dinner.

After dinner Desmond was put to bed by both his parents, and then they turned in early. They dropped by the living room where Gerry and Jasper were sitting amongst several DVD boxes, and Gerry was pouring popcorn into a bowl. After a quick warning not to make too much of a mess and have Jasper in bed once he fell asleep, they went to their room. She laid on the bed without even changing, and Fitz chuckled as he laid down next to her.

"What was I saying about another kid the other day?" She said with a little bit of sarcasm as she curled up snuggled up against Fitz, "Don't get me wrong, I love our children..."

"Oh, so now they're our children," He teased as he leaned down and kissed her head.

"No, I was including Karen and Gerry."

"Gotcha," He said, "Jasper will be fine, we'll figure something out. We always do."

"What about the other thing?" Olivia asked, carefully skirting around Edison's name.

"Anything new?"

"No, we're still not sure who would talk to him," She replied, 'The security tapes were all locked up, and all the agents are under strict orders - but there were so many of them that night..."

"It's one of the agents?"

"Tom's looking into it," Olivia said as she leaned up and kissed him softly.

"What if we put Jasper and Desmond in the same room for a little while?" Fitz asked and Olivia shook her head, "Just so he can get some sleep in him, so he won't be so exhausted at least."

"He might have more," Olivia said, "We might as well move his bed in here."

"No," Fitz replied simply, "If Gerry..."

"No," Olivia replied.

"Well, let's sleep on it then," Fitz said as he kissed her, then hopped up off the bed.

"I'm going to go catch a shower..."

"Oh! wait for me," She smiled as she rolled off the bed and chased him into their bathroom.


	8. Compromises

A/N: Hey, Guys! Thanks for stickin' with this one...

In Too Deep

Chapter Eight: Compromises

"Baby, I love you," She breathed the next morning as she rolled over, so that she was half on top of Fitz.

"G'morning," He smiled as he wrapped his arm around her playfully - kissing her softly, "That's awful sweet to hear this early in the morning. Go back to sleep, Livy. You don't have to be up yet."

"I don't?"

"No," He said, kissing the side of her head, "I have a video call with Putin."

"Ok," She said, keeping her arms locked around him as she closed her eyes again - he chuckled.

"I do have to go though," He said as he slipped out of her arms, and the bed, in one movement.

"Honestly, you must be the only man in the world who chooses Vladimir Putin over his wife in the morning," Olivia teased him, and he smirked as he leaned down and kissed her, running his tongue along her's sensually.

"I don't know, not many guys are as lucky as me," He smiled, then whispered, "Believe me, if I had the option to stay in bed with you all day- I would. But we have two little boys that would be suspicious, an older boy who would probably vomit, and - oh yeah, jobs. Cyrus set it up, talk to him."

"I will," She replied, "Unless you are out of the country, or there is an emergency, or we go to war, I get from at least dinner until eight in the morning."

"Mmmm, I love you," He said, pressing his lips to hers once more before he disappeared into their bathroom.

She pouted for a second before letting her eyes close, trying to catch her last hour of sleep. She was out within a matter of seconds, and suddenly she was sitting in her living room. Not the one at the White House, but in her home. Her real home that Fitz had had built and designed for them to live in. She was sitting on the couch, Desmond playing on the rug in front of her. She smiled down at her beautiful baby boy, then heard Fitz coming down the stairs. She looked over just in time to see him stride into the room and plop down next to her on the couch. He leaned in to kiss her and she dodged it playfully, turning her head so that she was looking out the window.

That's when she caught a good glance out it, and saw Carson watching them. There was caked on blood matting his hair, and a piece of the side of his head was missing. Blood dripping out of the side of his mouth. She screamed, and he drifted right through the window pane. She leaned back, trying to distance herself but Fitz was holding onto her too tight. She was panicking, and Fitz was on full alert, looking at her like she had about six heads. He was trying to comfort her, he didn't see Carson.

"Liv, what's wrong?" He asked her as Carson leaned down and kissed Desmond's head.

She shrieked, trying to warn him. She kept trying to say it, 'Carson. Carson.' but nothing was coming out of her mouth. She looked back at Fitz to try and communicate it to him, but jumped back. He was dead, covered in blood and dirt. He was have rotted, his skin a strange green color, and fell over with the lack of her supporting him to be vertical. Carson chuckled as he started crossing the room towards her - kicking Desmond over as he did.

"He can't protect you forever," Carson said menacingly, "You will always be mine, Livy. Stop trying to push me away. I do enjoy a good chase, but this is almost ridiculous. What do I have to do, come back from the grave for you?"

"Liv. Liv." She heard Fitz calling, "Olivia."

"Wha-" Olivia jerked awake as Fitz was propping her up on some pillows against their headboard.

"Liv," He exhaled, he was half dressed and his shoulders were still damp from his shower.

He climbed right up into bed with her, pulling her right into his arms. She snuggled her face into his chest, and he held her there by the back of her head as he scrambled to comfort her. She let him crumple her up against him and let him comfort her while she kept her hands to herself.

"You have a meeting," She reminded him after about a minute.

"What was that?" He asked, "You were fine, sleeping like an angel, and then were thrashing around-"

"I'm fine, Fitz."

She leaned up and kissed his smooth cheek.

"You're fine," He didn't believe her for a second, "Livy, how long have you been having nightmares? You were screaming for me, and then there was something about Carson."

"A while," She admitted as he loosened his grip a little so that he could look down into her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why haven't I noticed - am I that-"

"Stop. Yourself. Right there," She told him, tapping his chest, "It's never usually a problem when you're here."

His face fell a little bit.

"So you didn't want to tell me?" He inferred.

"I didn't want you to worry more than you already do," She replied, "You've got enough on your plate."

"Livy, you are my wife," He said as he kissed the side of her head, "I love you. I want to know this sort of thing. You will never be a burden to me, Liv."

"You're already in trouble because of me," She breathed it out quickly, and he furrowed his brow, "You're like me, you like to fix things. This doesn't have an easy fix..."

"Stop," He told her, leaning down and kissing her softly, "Livy, I told you. I wanna know. And I'm not in trouble, even if I was - it wasn't anything you did. I want to help you."

"Now you're going to be late."

"Figures I'm talking to the guy from Russia," He said, kissing her forehead, "France or Italy would understand. It's no problem, I'll push breakfast back until after the meeting. That gives me about twenty minutes. We'll talk about this later."

"There's no need to."

"Livy, I'm not going to leave this bed until you agree," He was stubborn, he always was, "You're gonna make me late, then I don't think your whole reserving me from six to eight will be less convincing to Cy."

"You wouldn't blame it on me."

"I absolutely would," He teased her, leaning down and kissing her.

"Fine, we'll talk about it tonight," She said, as he got off the bed and started to finish getting ready, "Can you check on the boys on your way out - make sure they're still sleeping? I'm going to hop in the shower."

"Ok," He said, as she got out of bed, and tied his tie for him, "Ah, I'm starting my day right today."

"You're ridiculous," She said, leaning up on her tip toes and kissing him before heading off to the shower.

He walked down the hall and peaked into Desmond's room. He wasn't asleep, but he was quietly playing with his bear inside of his crib. By the looks of it he would be contently playing in there for at least until Olivia was ready to retrieve him, so Fitz didn't let him know that he had seen him. Then it would be water works trying to leave him in there. He walked to the next door and peaked into Jasper's room to find that he wasn't there. His heart dropped and he started to panic for a for almost a minute before he remembered that Gerry had slept over. Sure enough, when he walked out into the living room both Gerry and Jasper were passed out under a quilt and the menu from the movie was playing on a loop. He smiled a little as he turned the TV off, happy that his sons at least got along. It could be a lot worse. He made it to the video call with a few minutes to spare, and then had a breakfast delivered to him in his office. He ate while he looked over the notes for his next meeting.

Olivia got out of her shower and Gerry had the both boys up and dressed and ready to go with the day. He was pouring cereal into Jasper's bowl as she walked out into the kitchen.

"I love you, Ger," Olivia said, smiling as she walked in and Gerry smiled as she went to the cabinet, "Not that I didn't anyways."

"I don't mind helping out," He replied.

"Katelyn's a very lucky girl," Olivia commented as she pulled down her own favorite cereal and a bowl, "She gets the advantage of seeing you with the boys before your own kids."

"Yeah, she must not like what she saw," He said, "We broke up a couple days ago."

"What?" Olivia said, almost dropping her bowl, "You two have been together for years."

"I know," He said, taking a another spoonful of his own cereal.

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?"

"I haven't talked to anyone really about it," He said sort of sadly.

"Well what happened?"

"She met Mike."

"Mike?" Olivia said, her heart breaking for Gerry, "Do you know Mike?"

"Yeah, he's a -" He broke off, looking over at the boys and Olivia nodded, "He kinda reminds me of Edison."

"Edison's stupid fucker," Jasper piped up, and they both looked over at him with wide eyes.

"Jasper!" Olivia said, "When and where did you hear that?"

"Daddy said it - I don't know a while ago."

"Oh my gosh," Olivia said, eyes still wide as Gerry started to crack up a bit, "Gerry."

Unable to contain himself he left the room to try and stop laughing.

"What?"

"Jasper, sometimes grown ups say things that don't need to be repeated," Olivia told him, as Gerry came back in, "And you definitely shouldn't repeat them."

"But Daddy said it."

"Jasper, I'm going to give you permission once, and one time only," She said, "When you see your dad next you get to yell at him for saying what he said about Mr. Davis - ok?"

"I get to yell at dad?" He said and Olivia nodded.

"Only this once, ok?" She told him, "And tell him how he doesn't get to teach you bad words, ok?"

"Ok, Mommy," He said, smiling, then his little face dropped.

"What is it sweetie?" She asked him.

"But how do I know if I'm learning bad words or not?"

"You can ask me before you say them, ok?" She said and he nodded as he went back to his cereal.

"Let it be known that the kid spent the night with his twenty year old brother and learned absolutely nothing like that," Gerry said, "Yet apparently his father has more to do with teaching him wrong - Dad's in trouble, isn't he?"

"What do you think?"

"I think that you should keep in mind that neither of them have learned anything like that from me when I ask if I can take them out for the day?"

"That would actually be great," Olivia said as she finished up her cereal, "Gin had to take the day off - I thought I was going to have to cancel most of my stuff today."

"Just call me superman," Gerry teased, and Olivia smiled, setting her dishes into the dishwasher, "And you get to go yell at dad."

"Where do you think my first stop is?" She said, "And about Katelyn, Gerry - she's missing out. Grant men are the best, right Jasper?"

"Yes," Jasper said as if it were a no brainer.

"We can talk about it later, if you want. Odds are she'll be back," She told Gerry, speaking from experience, as she kissed the younger two boys' heads and gave Gerry a hug, "You boys be good for your brother!"

Fitz's breakfast had been pushed to the side of his desk and he was on his laptop on the resolute desk. Of all the things that had been on it, he didn't think much of it - though he was sure his party would have other thoughts on the matter. He didn't care, he had a few minutes before his next meeting and he was trying to figure out what to do about Maggie's suggestion for Jasper. He had made it through the night before because Gerry was with him - so he thought it might more have to do with Jasper's confidence levels than anything in his brain. He didn't like the idea of giving his small child anti-depressants, he was looking for an alternative. He barely noticed when an aide came in and took away his dishes, just enough to thank her.

"Fitz," He heard Olivia enter, and looked up.

"Is everything ok?" He asked, as she shut the door behind her.

"Just came down to talk to you for a minute," She said as she walked over behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, "What're you working on?"

"I think I found a possible solution to Jasper's little problem," He said, closing the screen and spinning around in his chair - taking his lovely wife into his lap, "You first though."

"First, are you aware that your oldest son and his girlfriend broke up?" She asked him and his jaw dropped.

"Seriously?"

"He didn't seem to want to talk about it too much, but he's taking the boys today," She said.

"Ok, I'll talk to him at some point," Fitz said, leaning in and kissing her softly, "Anything else?"

"Yes, actually," She said, "We were just all eating breakfast. For some reason when Gerry compared Katelyn's new boyfriend to Edison, Jasper felt the need to call 'Edison is a Stupid Fucker' I believe it was?"

"Damnit," Fitz said, fully recognizing the look he was getting from her, "At least I'm training him well?"

"Fitz."

"I didn't know he was in the room," He said, "You know how he had that phase where he hid everywhere? It was after that stupid ball we had to go to - he was there, he was being...himself. Jasper said he wasn't going to say anything to you. I told him not to tell you what I said."

"Oh, that's great," Olivia rolled her eyes as she went to get up, and Fitz held onto her tighter.

"So what do we do?"

"I've already handled it," She said, "He gets to be the parent - he gets to yell at you for teaching him bad words the next time he sees you - which is when you should apologize to him and make him realize how awful you feel about saying those words."

"I say them all the time - that particular phrase even."

"Fitz. I will not have our four year old swearing his damn mouth off because his Daddy does it and therefore it's cool."

"I'll talk to him," Fitz replied, "He won't be swearing, I promise."

"Fine," Olivia said, "As long as you handle it."

"I will," He said, leaning in and kissing her cheek, "Now can I make your day?"

"What?" She asked as he pulled the page back up on his laptop, and spun around with her still in his lap.

"Valerian," He said, "It's a natural sleep aid, it calms the mind, and causes for better sleep. Also, it's approved for children, and much less extreme than antidepressants."

"You think it'll work?"

"It's worth a shot, right?"

"I'm taking it first," She said, and Fitz gave her a sideways look.

"If it has any funny side effects I want to make sure they're not too insane," She replied, "What else did you find?"

"Melatonin, but that stuff's supposed to give you loopy dreams anyways - for kids one of the first side effects listed is nightmares."

"That won't help."

"Nope."

"So I'll try it," She said, leaning over and kissing the side of his head, "Be ready for the meeting at five, ok? I'm so ready for this whole Edison thing to go away."


	9. I See You

A/N: Hello, all I promised I'd be back, right? Love you guys! Enjoy :)

In Too Deep

Chapter Nine: I See You

**Six(ish) Years Ago: **

Fitz stretched slightly inside the limousine. Cyrus was eyeing him wearily from the seat next to him – he still had a bald patch in his hair from where they had had to take the bullet out. He was leaning into the window, trying to cover up the patch, and Cyrus was sighing heavily. Cyrus was not pleased, probably because of what had happened earlier that morning. Fitz had been out of the hospital only forty-eight hours, and all hell was breaking loose. The divorce he had demanded of Mellie the second Olivia had gotten out of the room had been finalized, and made public. The news had gone insane, and he had told the American Public that he would not be seeking a second term. They were on the way to his get well dinner – which he had no intentions of staying at for very long.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mr. President?" Cyrus asked, the news was on, still reeling from everything that had happened that day – just like Cyrus.

"I'm not going to let her get away, Cy," Fitz replied, taking a deep breath, "What do you think? Should I upplay the fact that my wound hasn't even healed?"

"I think the fact that you'll be walking with a cane will be enough," Cyrus said, as Fitz arranged his curl to that it was covering his scar.

"Good idea," He said, and Cyrus rolled his eyes as the car pulled up to the red carpet that was rolled out –Fitz froze up.

"It's ok, sir," Cyrus tried to convince him, "There's snipers everywhere – you'll be safe sir."

"Thank you," Fitz said, taking a deep breath, "She's going to be here, right?"

"The Senator and her, yes," Cyrus said, pointedly and Fitz rolled his eyes, "Sir…"

"Either you're with me, or you're not Cy," Fitz said, taking a deep breath as he reached for the door handle – which felt like it might take all his strength to open, "You have until the end of the night to decide."

He opened the door and took a deep breath, waving to the crowd. The ones that showed up didn't seem too upset by all the news that was released that morning. They were cheering and clapping – applauding him as the secret service brought him very quickly inside. No dilly dallying, no stopping or pausing to wave or say hello to anyone. He put on a brave face – but wasn't even sure anyone saw it. He was brought right into the party without any sort of large introduction, just a quick one.

He spoke very briefly, thanking everyone for their support. Then he was whisked off to say hello to everyone. He took a deep breath as he was dragged around. Even though he wasn't really all that tired, he leaned onto his cane a little heavier than necessary. Cyrus spotted it, and took him away to go and sit at his table for a few minutes. Which, let him get a good scope around the room to try and spot Olivia. He called Tom over, as he was sitting at the table by himself – it was like everyone was scared of him or something.

"What is it, Sir?" Tom asked, kneeling down to hear him better.

"Can you locate Olivia Pope for me? Tell me if she's here, ok?" He asked, and Tom nodded as he left to help Fitz scope out what was going on.

It took a few minutes, but members of the cabinet came over and wished him good health, and a good recovery. A couple of his friends in the senate came and said 'hi' really quick. He sighed, still looking around – he thought he saw her once, but then she was gone. She was avoiding him – and if she was there with Edison, he could understand why. He had probably scared her, he could see in his head exactly what face she had made when she heard everything this morning. He took a deep breath, and forced himself up on his cane. He was weak, that was the only reason for it.

"Sir," Tom said, as Fitz was about halfway to the door, "Her and the senator are out on the balcony."

"Thank-you, Tom," Fitz said as they started off in that direction.

"Sir, it's a long walk, we have a wheel chair available," Tom said, as they walked, "I understand you not wanting to talk to Miss Pope from a wheel chair, but…"

"It's two hundred feet, Tom," Fitz said, and he nodded.

"Sir, would you like me to get rid of Senator Davis?" He asked, and Fitz shook his head.

"Olivia will," He said, handing him his cane as they got to the point where he could see them – but they couldn't see him.

Fitz smiled a little bit – they were standing about two feet apart, by the railing. He started over, motioning for Tom to wait just inside the door out onto the balcony. She took a deep breath, and he paused – admiring her as she stood out there in the moonlight. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Senator Davis was starting to inch closer to her, and he tried to hurry up in getting over to her. He was starting to hear their conversation.

"I don't get you, Liv," Senator Davis was saying, he was bareting her – and Fitz wanted to hit him, no one talked to his Livy like that, "He's your friend – it's his party, and you want to leave?"

"It's more complicated than that," Olivia replied quietly, not looking over at him.

Fitz had heard enough of this conversation, and he was almost close enough to let them know he was there. He was not up for hearing Edison say something borderline disrespectful to her, again. He took a deep breath, and cleared his throat. Olivia spun right around, like she already knew it was him, and Davis waited for a second before slowly turning around.

"You going to avoid me all night?" He asked, and there was no way Olivia was going to be able to hide the smile on her face, "What? You don't want to talk to me anymore just because I'm out of a hospital bed?"

He opened up his arms, and Olivia went right over and gave him a hug.

"You look great," She said, stepping back and out of his arms way faster than he would have liked.

"Mr. President, it's good to have you back," Edison said, walking over to stand with them, "I was relieved to hear you woke up."

Yeah, right.

"Thanks," Fitz said, as Olivia let him over so that he could hang on to the rail – Edison coming with them, "Livy, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure," She said, taking a deep breath, "Edison, mind giving us a second?"

"Sure," He said, walking over into the building, out of earshot.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, as soon as Edison was gone.

"You brought a date?" He asked, putting a hand over his heart – as if she had mortally wounded him.

"Yeah, well that's what happens when the guy you've been dating is invited to the same party that you can't say no to going to," She said, and Fitz rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but you don't need him anymore," He said, "You don't have to be waiting in the eaves for me anymore. I'm ready – I'm not screwing around anymore. I'm ready for us. Mellie's gone, I'm not going to be president again – What's your excuse this time? I'm ready, I'm available, and you love me."

"You are so cocky," She chuckled at him, and he nodded.

"I love you, Livy," He said, and she nodded, swallowing.

"Please don't do this to me, Fitz," She said, and she looked like she was about to cry, "You keep dangling yourself in front of me like a carrot on a stick. I almost just lost you – and I appreciate that Mellie's gone – but I – You keep playing with me, Fitz. You're not thinking right now. I heard the surgeons talking – you're not yourself."

"I assure you, I am," He said, "I just know what I have to lose now. I know, Livy. I know that if I don't have you – I might as well have died on that bed. Without you – without knowing that I need to be with you – Livy…"

"What, Fitz?" She was getting close to tears, "What do you want from me? Because you know you'll get it."

He took a deep breath, then eased himself down onto one knee in front of her. It took him a minute to get down there – so any element of surprise was gone by the time he was all settled on one knee and he took her hand. She was looking up at the sky, pulling back tears as he kissed the back of her hand.

"Livy," He said, and she looked down at him – he was having trouble balancing as he reached into the jacket of his tux, "I know this is way too late. I know I've wasted time, and used every last bit of patients that you have, but Livy.."

"Fitz, stop – Fitz."

He shook his head as he pulled the small box out of his jacket – popping it open to reveal a ring.

"Let me do this," He said, holding the ring up, his head down, looking at her shoes, "Please, Olivia, marry me. Stop my suffering, and give me a reason to finish recovering. A life, with the woman I love."

He paused and looked up at her – she had her other hand over her mouth. She sighed.

"Do-"

"That's all I've ever wanted," He said, taking the ring out of the box, she left her hand low for him, "A life. With you. That's what I want. So give it to me."

She nodded, a smile coming over her face – and he grinned as he slipped the ring onto her finger – speechless.

"Yes," She said, apparently finding her voice as she helped him up, hugging him tight, "Yes, yes, yes, yes."

He leaned a little on the side, so that he could support her as she leaned up and kissed him, holding his face so that she could get an angle on any bit of his face.

"Careful," He smirked, and she kissed it softly.

"I love you," She said, looking up at him all doe eyed – he loved that, "It's only ever been you."

"I love you too," He said, setting his forehead against hers.

There was a moment there, when his eyes were closed, and her eyes were closed. He wrapped his arms around her tight, and then suddenly – he felt a sudden impact to the side of his head. Then he was fully on the railing – and Olivia was yelling.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Olivia was nearly yelling as Fitz was standing back up, recovering, "Even if I hadn't just accepted his proposal – we would be so over."

His head was spinning, and he couldn't really see straight correctly. He stepped up and in front of Olivia, taking a swing and connecting properly with Edison's face as he saw Tom running over. He knew he wouldn't get a lot of time, so he threw another one – connecting right with Edison's gut. All the rage, the photos of him and Liv going through his head – Edison kissing Liv. His Livy – he didn't stop until Edison fell over onto the ground – and Olivia was pulling back on his arm. By the time that Tom got there, he was holding Edison back as he was getting back up.

"Senator Davis," Tom was calming him down – apparently he had gotten some punches in too – because Olivia was dabbing blood from the edge of Fitz's eye.

"Fitz," Olivia said, she looked overtly worried as she used her glove to dab at his face, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," He said, as she dabbed at his mouth.

"Sir?" Tom asked, and Fitz nodded.

"Let him go," Fitz said, taking Olivia's left hand to steady himself – flashing the ring shamelessly at Edison as Tom handed him back his cane, "I trust either not wanting to admit that he punched a man barely able to stand – or not wanting to admit that he got the shit beat out of him by the guy will keep his mouth shut."

"Let's get you back to the White House," Olivia said, leaning up and kissing the side of his head, "Tom, can we get him some ice."

Tom nodded.

"Skip the ice," He said, looking at Olivia, "You'll stay with me tonight, right?"

**Present Day: **

"Fitz," Olivia called as Fitz looked down at the papers on his desk – all the dirt they had been able to pull up on Edision.

"What is it, Livy?" He asked, looking up as she walked into the Oval with Desmond on her hip.

"Jasper's teacher called," She said, walking the rest of the way in, and setting Desmond down on the desk – where Fitz pulled him down in his lap.

"Does he need picking up?" Fitz asked, Olivia shook her head.

"No, I was able to calm him down over the phone," She said, leaning over the desk and running her fingers through his hair, "And, the tea with that weird thing you found – it worked last night."

"I was also there," He said, leaning back as he let Desmond down onto the floor, and standing up/

"Well, yeah," She said as he came around to the front and wrapped her up in his arms, he kissed her cheek, "We'll have to see what happens when you leave tomorrow night."

"I hate leaving you like this," He replied, pressing his head into her shoulder.

"You're awfully cuddly today," She said, stroking the side of his cheek.

"Nothing," He said, "I was just thinking."

"That's always dangerous," She chuckled, and he looked up at her – stealing a quick kiss.

"Nice," He said, "I just got the folders that my sources were able to get on Davis."

"So you were thinking about…" She trailed off on purpose as she played with his hair – she always managed to do so right over his scar – he wondered if she knew it or not.

"The night I asked you to marry me."

"It was eventful," She said, and Fitz smirked.

"You could say that," He said, leaning in and stealing another kiss.

"What's with the dirt – anything good? Anything we can use?"

"Maybe," Fitz said, letting go of her for a minute to lean back and pick up a paper off his desk, "Him and Carson have phone records."

"What?" Olivia said, furrowing her brow as she stole the paper from him.

"Looks like they never stopped being in contact," He said, "Which is fine, they were friends and Edison claimed to not know – but about a week before it happened, they averaged about four calls a day."

"Edison was egging him on," Olivia said, and Fitz nodded.

"That's what I'm thinking," He replied, taking her back in his arms, stealing another kiss, "You can see why I would want to relive a moment where I had him on the ground bleeding."

"So if he tries to say that Carson was mentally ill."

"Which no one would question," Fitz commented.

"Then we can try to say that he was egging him on so that…"

"He could have you back," Fitz said, "Carson gets rid of me, and the secret service gets rid of Carson. He's speaker of the house – he's got the white house. All he has to do is wait out whatever your mourning period of me would be."

"Oh my God," Olivia said, and Fitz nodded as he pulled out a picture, with a time stamp from that night.

"He left literally twenty minutes before he took you," Fitz said, "Like he knew there was going to be a big upset, and he didn't want his plans to be upset. Or better yet, he's not in the police report. Everyone at that party was questioned by the police. He was already gone…"

"Daddy!" Desmond yelled, and Fitz went over and scooped him up, "What is it buddy?"

"We need to hang on to this," Olivia said, as she took the rest of the files off his desk, "I'll give it to the team. This should be able to shut Davis down."

"Oh, I don't want to shut him down," Fitz said, "I want to let him self-destruct. But, at the same time – I don't want to put you through this in the spotlight again."

"We'll talk about it," She said, tucking the folders under her arm, "Can you watch Desmond for a couple hours?"

"Of course," He said, leaning in and kissing her softly, "You're coming to Jasper's practice with me later, right?"

"Like I'd miss it," She replied, kissing him softly as she left the room – presumably to go find her team.

"Looks like it's just us boys, huh bud?" Fitz said, bouncing Desmond onto his hip as Cyrus walked in.

"Oh, we've already reverted the Oval to a daycare," Cyrus said, and Fitz rolled his eyes.

"What do you want, Cyrus?" Fitz asked, as he took his baseball hat off the desk, and the one got Desmond that matched out of his desk drawer, "I took the afternoon off in my schedule so that I could go to Jasper's first t-ball practice. Like a normal parent."

"Senator Davis is starting to make noise," Cyrus said, and Fitz nodded.

"It's handled," He dismissed it, "We just got great intel, and Olivia and the team are working on it."

"I know I just saw Huck in the hallway," He replied and Fitz nodded.

"I have to get Des here ready to go," Fitz said, readjusting Desmond and catching his hat as he attempted the throw it on the ground.

"Mr. President."

"I'm on my way out, Cy," Fitz said, "Have Tom and Daniel bring the car around, Louise."

"Sure, sir," She said as Fitz passed her – going to get Desmond ready for the fields.


	10. A little Normal

A/N: Ok, let's get this one off my plate, shall we... enjoy :)

In Too Deep

Chapter Ten: A little Normal

Olivia stood just to the side of the t-ball field with one of the agents that was assigned to her detail, while agents swept the area so that Fitz could arrive. You know, typical day at the first t-ball game of the season, all the little kids and their parents were starting to show up, the kids going down on the field and running around with each other – the parents all settling themselves at the other end of the bleachers as her. She played with the hem on the bottom of her pant leg. She had changed from white house garb to a pair of jeans and a hoodie – not wanting to stand out any more than she would. Fitz was bringing the boys – he was going to pick Jasper up from therapy and bring him and Desmond over with him. She sighed as she noticed one of the mothers glance over at her. She took a deep breath.

"Damien," She addressed her agent that was standing next to her.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Do any of them have weapons, other than like those glances I'm getting?"

"No."

"Alright, you can stand back then," She told him as she started walking over, but she was stopped.

It was the dual impact of one leg being caught, and then the other very shortly after it. She looked down and spotted her boys looking up at her. She smiled, going to turn around until she felt Fitz's arms wrap around her from behind, catching her mid-step. And she turned her head back at him as the boys let go of her legs. She opened her mouth to say something to him, but he took that as an invitation. He kissed her softly, and she had no choice but to smile as he pulled away.

"Hello, beautiful," He smiled at her, as she turned around, and Desmond made him pick him up.

"I'm sorry," She said, pretending to be outraged, "I'm waiting for my husband to show up."

Fitz chuckled.

"He is your husband, mom," Jasper pointed out, and Fitz put the baseball glove he had been carrying for him onto his head.

"Thank you, Jasper," Olivia said, crouching down to be eye level with him, "Why don't you go down onto the field and introduce yourself to the other kids?"

"Ok," He took off running towards where the other kids were starting to play catch.

"Mom," Desmond said, reaching for her, and she took him from Fitz.

"Well there goes any opportunity to get some normal human interaction," Olivia said, and Fitz followed her gaze over to the group of parents.

"Well, I don't know about that," He said, putting his arm around her – not able to take her hand because she was holding their toddler.

"What're you doing?" She asked, adjusting Desmond's hat, and noticing that Fitz had changed into jeans and a very casual looking sweater since she had seen him in the oval.

"We're being normal parents," He teased her – nothing about them was normal.

"Normal parents can go to their son's game without an army of secret service agents," Olivia pointed out as he guided her over to the cluster of parents and younger siblings.

Olivia took a deep breath, not really sure what Fitz was doing.

"Hey," He said, as he walked her and Desmond over to where the other parents were sitting.

"Mr. President," said one of the fathers – the rest of them were a little shell shocked, and Fitz just went and took a seat next to one of them.

"If you're trying to talking to me about foreign policy or something like that it's Mr. President," Fitz told the man, "At my son's game, it's Fitz."

"I go by Olivia whenever I can anyways," Olivia said as she followed his lead, taking a seat down in front of him, next to one of the women, "I love your bag."

"Thanks," She smiled as Olivia adjusted Desmond,"Desmond, right? He's so adorable."

"Naw," Olivia said, looking down at Desmond, "Say thank-you, Des."

"Thanks."

"H'e's almost two – I don't know what I'm going to do," Olivia said, looking up back over her shoulder at Fitz, who laughed.

"Don't look at me," He replied, completely deadpan, and the men that he was sitting with laughed, "So you all..."

"We all live in the same neighborhood," said another one of the moms – and Fitz nodded.

"That must be fun," said Fitz, instantly worrying that Jasper might be on the outside of an already tight group – he looked down and everything looked fine, "All the kids running around – I feel bad sometimes when I think about that kind of stuff."

"We'll be done with the White House before Jasper's eight," Olivia reminded him, "He and Desmond will have plenty of time to run around with the neighborhood kids."

Her phone started to ring, and she passed Desmond back to Fitz, getting up to answer it.

"What?" She answered, walking a little ways away as she spotted Gerry walking towards her.

"We have a problem, Liv," Harrison said.

"What do you mean?"

"Senator Davis, he's here – he's starting to make noise...he's got a petition..."

"We'll be right there," Olivia said, hanging up as Gerry stopped right in front of her.

"I'm so sorry, I tried to stop it.." He started and Olivia shook her head at him.

"Gerry, whatever's going on, it has nothing to do with you. You have no control over it," She said, "Your dad and I are going to have to go though, can you stay here with Desmond and Jasper, bring them home?"

"Of course," He replied, and she walked with him over the stands.

Fitz seemed to recognize the look on Olivia's face – and handed Gerry the baby. They bid the parents that they had been talking to goodbye as Fitz's personal phone started ringing. He looked down at it quick, then hit ignore, looking over at Olivia as he took her hand.

"Why was Cyrus calling me?" He asked as they stopped by the edge of the dugout, where Jasper was waiting to take his turn to bat.

"I'll explain in the car," Olivia replied and Fitz nodded as he crouched down towards the end of the bench, "But Edison's starting to make noise."

"Psst, Jazz," He called, and Jasper walked over to him.

"What's up, dad?"

"We're so sorry, sweetie – but we have to go," Olivia told him, and she knew the same dagger that went through he heart had gotten to Fitz's too as Jasper's face dropped.

"Gerry's going to stay with Des, and you and bring you home," Olivia got down to be eye level with him too, and Jasper nodded.

"Ok," He said, and Fitz looked like his gut was tying itself up in knots as his phone started ringing again.

"Buddy, I know I told you I would be here..."

"It's ok, dad," Jasper said.

No, it wasn't. Fitz looked up at Olivia, this was the moment of truth. He knew if he left Jasper would at least start thinking that his job was more important to him. He knew that, and there was no way that he was going to let that happen. He never wanted to be that dad again, he hadn't even bothered to stay at more than half of Gerry's games. He was too busy. He had made that mistake once, and he wasn't going to do it again.

"You know what, it's not important," Fitz said, looking up at Olivia, "I wanna watch you bat."

"I can handle it," Olivia told him, seeing the pain in Fitz's face and Jasper smiled.

"Really?"

"You bet, kiddo," Fitz said and Jasper jumped up.

"I have to go," Olivia said, it had been a surprise that she had had enough time to make it there anyways – she hadn't promised him anything, "Kisses."

Jasper kissed her cheek then ran off to sit back down on the bench, and she took a deep breath. Fitz leaned in and kissed her, softly.

"Kick ass," He whispered, so the bench full of four and five year old children couldn't hear him.

"If I'm late, don't forget to give Jasper some tea before bed," Olivia told him, and he nodded, "We might as well see if it works for him too."

"Ok," Fitz said, as she ran off up the hill to the parking lot.

She had a couple agents following her up to the car. Damien got her door open for her, then hopped into the front seat as her driver took off back for the White House. She thought about calling Harrison, but she didn't want to distract him from the situation. She had trained him and Abby well – she had to trust that. The car pulled into the private driveway, and Damien was whispering into his sleeve.

"It seems like there's a bit of a disturbance just outside the oval..."

"Thank you, Damien," Olivia told him, and she took off.

"...You cannot be here," Cyrus was yelling as Olivia made her way up, "He's not even here. If your so well informed, I'm not entirely sure why you're here – because you would know he's not."

"I don't need him to be here," Edison was saying, "I need to talk to the cabinet."

"You can talk to me," Olivia said, stopping just behind Harrison and Abby.

"Where are you coming from?" Abby asked, taking one look at her wardrobe.

"Well, I was at a t-ball game, before I was rudely ripped out of it," She replied, "I need the room, please."

"Liv," Harrison said.

"The room!" She shouted, this had gone on long enough – and the three of them filed out, followed closely by Fitz's secretary, "Damien, I'll be ok."

"I'll be just outside the door, ma'am," He said, his eye shifting over at Edison, then taking a step outside the door, shutting it for her.

"So I start making a cue, and he sends you?" Edison said, looking at her like she was a joke, "What he's not man enough to show up himself? He sends the little woman instead?"

"He's got more important things on his docket," Olivia replied, "He promised our son that he would be at his first game – priorities. Besides, you're not his problem – you're mine. And I've never been one to let Fitz fight my battles for me. I don't know why I was about to let it happen this time."

"So I can talk to you?"

"No, actually," Olivia took a deep breath, "You're going to be doing the listening, the way I hear it you've already been talking quite a lot."

"Olivia, this isn't something I need to be discussing with you..." He said, rather dismissively, and Olivia rolled her eyes – now she was ready.

"You know where you went wrong, Edison?" Olivia asked him, "You always underestimated me, even when we were together. I was a woman, I wasn't always there – when I said something intelligent it was cute. You were so incredibly patronizing that it made my blood boil. Fitz, a man twice your intelligence level, has never minimized me. You know what he was worried about when he was running again? That I was going to be marginalized, that being First Lady was going to be hard for me – because I'm not the debutant, the moron in pearls and heels. He understood that, you never did. He saw my intelligence, my whit, the crazy idea that I might be a woman, a smart woman, who didn't feel the need to flaunt it – an equal. He wasn't afraid of it."

"Liv..." Edison gave her a little smile – trying to be charming.

"The point is, you underestimated me, and you still are," She said, taking a deep breath, "Because this pretty, 'little woman' is about to screw your ass to the wall. You're going to stop routing around in what happened that night. You're going to stop this insane crusade against my husband, and the President of the United States before we have to end up bringing you in for treason."

"Treason?"

"You supported Carson," She took a deep breath, "You paid the majority of his campaign expenses in California, you campaigned for him. You set him all up – you wrote his speeches for him. And you know what I think? I think you even bought him that gun. Because I think you put those delusions in his head. I know I might be borderline conspiracy theorry here – but I think a court might start thinking a long the same lines if all the facts were drawn out for them, with the right spin. I think we were planning a very clever assassination attempt on both the President and Vice President of the United States of America – treason. You lost that election fair and square – you knew you were going to, that's why you got yourself a pretty impressive insurance policy. You were reinstated as Speaker of the House that morning, as soon as Fitz had been sworn in. Carson kills Fitz, the secret service kills Carson, you're president."

"Dammit Olivia!" Edison shouted, and Olivia took a step back as Edison took a step forward.

"You're done, Edison," She told him, "Huck was able to trace that it was your money that bought the gun. You're done, Edison. Your plan was elaborate, but I guess you were just thwarted by 'the little woman'. How'd that feel, macho-man?"

He was coming at her, pretty quickly.

"Damien!" She called, trying not to sound like she was as scared as she was – he stepped into the room and Edison froze, "Escort Senator Davis from the premises, please – and take him off the access list."

"Yes, Ma'am."


End file.
